Hyperdimension Sephira
by Mr. Kino-san
Summary: Highschool Student, Shizuki Tsukamoto awakens to find himself in an unfamiliar world. He comes across two certain individuals who are willing to help him, but is unaware that an organization known as G.H.Q, is out to obtain a mysterious source of power in his possession called the Gem of Sephira. Watch how this new tale unfolds. (AU and Mixed Elements)
1. Episode 1: Welcome to Gamindustri

_**Episode 1:**_

 _ **Welcome to Gamindustri**_

Cover Image: Shizuki and Compa standing in a field of Doggos with their respective weapons

* * *

Tsukamoto Shizuki was an individual whose life was not worth telling about. If one were to see him, he would be seen as an average looking 17 year old who lived an average life with his family and friends. However, this was not entirely the case. While his life was somewhat mundane, it wasn't by any means normal. As of now, he was someone that was not desired by the world around him; an outcast shunned and sometimes mocked for his special circumstances.

In this world, there were humans that have been born with special abilities and attributes not belonging to those of normal human beings. As a result, the ordinary people in the world grew fearful and reacted in a multitude of ways. Some reactions ranged from hate groups, to task forces created by various governments to deal with these people, and even cases of fanatical worship. Hate and fear was what mostly gripped this world when it came to these beings and as such, they were given an official classification.

Espers.

People who developed supernatural abilities often at a young age. An unfortunate circumstance that tore apart families.

But that was neither here nor there. Shizuki's life was probably in danger, due to the fact that gossip had spread about his "powers" for a while now, which hurt him pretty much in most corners of his life. But he wasn't being pursued by some radical organization or some task force, but rather a group of delinquents who happened to be old classmates of his from middle school. People who heard about his "powers" and wanted to beat him up out of hatred for his supposed kind.

The blue haired teen ran has fast as his legs could humanly carry him, wanting to get away from his pursuers. The delinquents were around his age of varying builds and heights, each shouting curses and threats while they chased him. Shizuki could take on at best 2 of them in a fist fight however, fighting them directly wasn't an option as there were at least 5 of them after him.

After making a couple roundabout maneuvers and turns, he found himself in a empty alley way with his path blocked by a wall. If the delinquents did somehow manage to catch up to him, he could have no way of escaping. Hoping that wasn't the case, he finally spoke aloud in strained gasps as he tried to inhale oxygen in his lungs.

"Did I... finally lose them?"

The teen laid up against the wall, trying to catch his breath as he slumped down to the ground. A sense of relief washed over him as was prepared to determine if the storm had passed. But that illusion would soon be mercilessly smashed.

"Yo. Corpse..."

 _("Shit...")_

His heart immediately sank when he heard the delinquent's voice call out to him, using a name he came to hate so much.

There stood the five young men, looking down on him like a pack of wolves ready to tear into their prey. Shizuki jumped to his feet at once, his back immediately pressed against the wall, with an anguished expression. The leader of the group clearly saw how helpless he looked and thought to amuse himself.

"You know... yer quite fast for a little corpse, I'll give you that."

"Tch..."

Shizuki expressed a tinge of anger as the young thug spoke. Because of a specific incident that caused one of his powers to awaken years prior, classmates, and even some adults had been calling him that name ever since.

"Come on you guys... don't you idiots have anything better to do than to gang up on some outcast like me?"

"We consider it a great honor to beat up freaks like you."

One of the delinquents retorted.

"You damn Espers have been screwin' up the world for a long time lately. It's about time we finally do our part and show you that you damn'd freaks don't belong!"

The tallest one shouted, slamming his fist into his palm with great enthusiasm.

"How many times do I have to tell you bozos that I'm not an Esper?! I don't even have the Gene for crying out loud! Are you guys so thick skulled that you don't even know about that?"

The youth shouted with slight irritation as he was tired of being mistaken for an Esper and being treated as such by the people in this damn town. The blond haired delinquent finally spoke up addressing his leader.

"Yo senpai, This mutant has quite the shitty mouth. Don'tchya think it's time he learns his lesson?"

"Oh yeah, you got a point there Watanabe."

The leader of the group smirked as he walked toward Shizuki cracking his knuckles. He tensed up at this moment, getting into a fighting posture. This wasn't the first time he fought most of these guys before.

He fought them back when he was in his third year of middle school, though the fight had no victor as it was broken up by nearby teachers and students; a fight which resulted in Tsukamoto himself getting suspended while the aggressors had only gotten detention.

Before he could act however, the leader rushed at him and threw a punch that connected to his face so hard, it knocked him back into the wall and onto the ground. The youth tried to get up, but his attempt was stopped by the heavy force he felt kicking him back down.

The other delinquents chuckled maliciously as the gathered around the fallen high school student and began stomping his body into the ground. The hits had repeatedly connected with his head, arms, hand, leg, and even his crotch was not spared from the brutal assault these guys gave him. Shizuki could feel his rage building up as each foot trampled him mercilessly. Every time he intended to retaliate, his efforts would be automatically halted, angering him further.

 _("I hate this place... I hate these people... I hate this world. I wish I could just disappear from this place for good.")_

He honestly would not mind if these people had stomped his brains in and ended his life here. In this town, everywhere he went, some people would give him wary looks, as if he were infected by some kind of disease. he had friends in the past, but they abandoned him in one way or another, and his parental guardian, Tsukamoto Hakurei was always away from home due to "work."

He was alone. Loved by few and hated by many. Living a hollow life that was accompanied by misery.

 _"Just let me disappear for good... I don't even care how... I'm sick of this pointless excuse for a life."_

He had bothered not even trying at that point, not even trying to defend himself, for he wanted his life to end in one way or another.

After having his body trampled on for what seemed like an eternity to the youth, the delinquents finally relented before the leader sighed.

"Man, that felt good. Nothing like beating the shit out of some Esper freak amirite?"

"You got that right senpai!"

The younger thug exclaimed, holding a thumbs up. The leader looked down on the boy who had a somewhat expressionless look on his face.

"But just for good measure..."

He raised his foot back before propelling it forward, hitting Shizuki hard in the head, which was enough to make him slip out of consciousness.

The young men laughed heartily in response to their gang leader dealing the final blow to the unordinary youth's skull.

"Careful bro, the dude might literally become a corpse."

One of the delinquents said so in a joking manner, showing almost no concern for the boy's life.

"Eh, you're right. Let's get outta here. I hear that new burger joint opened up yesterday."

"Aw yeah! I hear their burgers are the bomb!"

And as if forgetting he was there, the gun-ho males turned away from Tsukamoto and headed to their next destination, talking about inconsequential crap.

"..."

The youth laid there alone in the dark alleyway, writhing in pain from the beating he took. It was close to midnight and he was fading in and out of consciousness from the last blow to the head he received. His vision was starting to fade and it was only a matter of time before lost consciousness. But before he did...

"H...Huh?"

A figure stood before him.

The figure did not appear human, although it was in human shape. The figure resembled that of a human female in terms of how its body was structured, however, its features were heavily obscured by a bright light that it gave off. The female appeared to have long hair, though of unknown color and wore robes of unknown detail. If Shizuki could describe this thing, Goddess would immediately come to mind.

The light wasn't bright enough to hurt his already strained eyes, but it was enough too obscure her features so that only the outline of her figure could be seen and nothing more.

"W...Who are y...you..?

Tsukamoto called out to the Goddess in a weak tone, though she showed no reaction to his question. Instead, the being of white light walked toward the fallen boy and looked down on him for a few brief moments before speaking to him in an incomprehensible voice.

 _「_ _"_ _My poor child. You have lived a hard life here have you not? I am sorry that you had to endure the hardships you had on this world."」_

The being's voice was unbelievable. It was filtered and disguised through unknown means, but he could definitely tell the voice was female despite his dazed state. Her voice carried a sense of serenity and strength, indicating that her words carried a lot of weight in them. She didn't radiate murderous intent but instead, gave off an aura that felt... motherly.

 _「_ _"I had hoped that you would be safe in this world... but now I fear that your life is in jeopardy once more."」_

He couldn't understand the being clear enough. His consciousness was fading and it was only a matter of time before his vision would fade completely.

 _「_ _"And so, I must send you away once more. May the Root bless you with a more meaningful life in the new world... and moreso_ _"」_

The Goddess's tone became more severe as she uttered these last few words.

 _「_ _"_ _may The Root protect you from evil that lurk within the darkness."」_

A cryptic message had been given. The youth's ears heard it, but he was too out of it to fully grasp the information.

 _("A guardian angel huh..? Why come to my aid now of all times?")_

Before Shizuki could even speak out loud, he could no longer hold on to reality, but the image before him would be ingrained in his memory forever. A girl made of brilliant white light, carrying the grace and serenity of an angel. If he didn't know any better, he swore he could have seen a smile on the entity's shrouded features.

The world suddenly became white and Tsukamoto Shizuki was no longer on Earth.

※※※※※

A pair of brown eyes finally opened after a long slumber. The youth awoke to find himself laying comfortably in a soft bed with the covers pulled over his body.

"Auhhh..."

The first thing his eyes laid their gaze upon was a white ceiling. An unfamiliar ceiling in an unfamiliar room.

"Where the hell am I... and why do I feel like I got body slammed by those fake TV wrestlers?"

The youth felt sore on multiple areas on his body, including an area where no man should ever be hit and to top that off, his head was assailed by a sharp throbbing pain, which caused him to hold his head in discomfort.

"Ugh... what the heck was I even doing that made me feel like some bedridden grandpa?"

Tsukamoto searched his memories to find out what could have happened that resulted in his current situation. Then he remembered. The delinquents, the beating, and the Goddess that appeared before him.

"So that really did happen... the ass beating followed by the guardian angel showing up."

He thoroughly remembered getting stomped on by those thugs and the faces and remarks they made when they did so. Thinking about it began to stir up heavy emotions, namely anger. He also questioned if he really did see an Angel Goddess of any sort, but he could worry about that later. Right now, he had other things to figure out.

 _("What's up with this room? This definitely doesn't look like a hospital room...")_

Indeed. A normal hospital room would be plain looking in design, but the room resembled that of someone's bedroom, and not just anyone's bed room; a girl's bedroom.

The walls were painted pink and the shelves were adorned with books, stuffed animals, and for some reason, an object that looked like a giant syringe sitting in the corner of the room.

 _("Whoever lives here must be a girl or... a really flamboyant dude with some interesting design choices. huh? What the hell is this..?")_

The more he moved his body, the more he felt like something was restraining him in a way. He looked down at his body only to find that the shirt and jacket of his school's uniform was completely removed and that half his torso was wrapped in bandages.

(" _Ok, I know I took a beating but this is ridiculous. What kind of quack doctor stitches people up like this?")_

Shizuki took a closer look at the bandage work. It had been wrapped around his body tightly, affected areas of the beatings included, but the work was so sloppily done, a real medical physician would laugh and think of it as a big joke... or facepalm hard.

"Some amateur obviously did this. I can't fault them for trying to help though, but did they really need to use this much bandage? I'm not even sure if I need them at this point."

The teen mused as he stood up from the bed and began undoing some of the bandages that were wrapped around his person. The areas that had either been bruised or cut had indeed healed, though said areas was still somewhat sore. It was no doubt one of his special abilities that he had loathed so much, and one that gave him the nick name Corpse to begin with...

Tsukamoto walked over to the room's only window only to have his eyes widen at the sight he was greeted with.

"What the..."

He realized that he was in a building, several stories high, of what he assumed was an apartment complex. He also noticed that the building was in the middle of large city, with building designs he had never seen before. At least not in Japan. Back in his hometown, there was no huge metropolis and his neighborhood only consisted of a row of houses and the occasional convenience stores in the area overall.

This city on the other hand, did not resemble his home town at all. The buildings were of varying heights and sizes, but all of them were white. Not that white buildings were uncommon back home, but not all of them were white like this. Another thing that caught Shizuki's eye was a towering large structure in what seemed like the middle of the city, arching over the buildings like some giant arch, only it was rectangular. If it wasn't for this huge structure, he would have initially assumed that he was in a city like Tokyo or maybe even NYC before observing more closely.

 _("...Okay. I'm not sure if I should be awestruck or panicking right now, but where the hell am I?")_

The teen mentally commented as he begun to contemplate his situation.

He was in a room he didn't recognize.

He was in a building he didn't recognize.

He was in a city he didn't recognize.

At this point, he may as well have been in another country altogether. He was unsure how to feel at the moment. Part of him was glad that he was out of the place that he felt unwelcome in, but another part of him was wary of his new surroundings because he had no idea what would be in store for him.

However, before he could make any further attempts to process this turn of events, a sudden voice snapped him back to the present.

"Oh, you're up. Good morning sleepy head! Well actually, good afternoon!"

Shizuki turned around to face the origin of the voice. Standing in the doorway was a girl, no older than Shizuki himself with hair that was a light creamy pink color, which was somewhat long and curls along the edges worn with a black headband with a C patched on the side. Her clothing consisted of a tan-white wool styled tank top with big neck and un-attached sleeves and matching styled boots, but with small ribbons/fuzzy balls at the top along with red plaid skirt and a black choker with a heart.

The teen remained silent for a while, before saying anything. This was really the first time, as far as he can remember being alone in the same room with a girl his own age, especially one whom he would admit was rather cute in his eyes. But such thoughts aside, there was a small feeling that something about this girl was familiar to him, but couldn't place his finger on it.

After a good few moments of silence, Shizuki asked the obvious question.

"Uh, I might be asking a dumb question here but, how on earth did you manage to drag me from a dirty alleyway in Japan all the way to...where ever this place is?"

The girl tilted her head in slight confusion at his words before answering his question.

"You fell from the sky and landed in the ground with a weird symbol scribbled on it.. so I pulled you out and carried you back home!"

The girl tilted her head in slight confusion at his words before answering his question.

"Well, it was just three nights ago that I saw a light in the sky... that was you!"

"Well that explains it... wait what? Light in the sky? Three Nights ago?"

The male was confused as to what she meant. If what she was saying was true, then he was out of commission for damn near three days. Also...

"When I found you, you were laying in the middle of this weird symbol thingy drawn in the ground.. so I carried you all the way back home and has been treating you ever since."

The girl smiled innocently as if there was nothing odd with what she just told him.

"You carried me here all by yourself?"

Shizuki asked with some disbelief. As much as he had a hard time picturing the girl carrying him as if he were lightweight, He could only imagine the looks she would've gotten if anyone had actually saw her do so.

"Why didn't you take me to a hospital? That would've been way more simpler than just carrying me."

"Well, as you can see I'm a nurse in training! It wouldn't just do for me to not do my part and not treat you as best I can! Pluss..."

The girl trailed off for a bit as if she wanted to say something but held off on it, earning her a raised eyebrow from her guest. She then shook her head before resuming to a new topic.

"I'm Compa by the way! What's your name?"

"Shizuki. Tsukamoto Shizuki. It's nice to meet you."

The youth put on a pleasant smile as he introduced himself to his host.

"Nice to meet you uh, Shiza...Shizur... Shizu-kun!"

The girl named Compa fumbled over her words as she attempted to pronounce Shizuki's name before coming up with a nickname for him that was easier for her to say.

The teen tried to suppress his minor embarrassment as a faint blush briefly manifested on his face. He was not used to other people calling him by such names, as the last time he had been addressed similarly was when he was in grade school. He wanted to make a remark about the nickname he was given but that thought was replaced by yet another question.

"Wait, hold up... weird symbol? You found me laying in something like that?"

"Mm, it was really weird looking.. I never saw anything like it."

The girl nodded as she recalled the subject of interest and its appearance.

"Well, I'll admit, my curiosity's now piqued. If I was found in such a thing, I think it would do me well to check it out."

"Ooh! I can take you there then, Shizu-kun!"

There was still a lot that the Youth wanted to ask. About the events of last night involving that entity, his new surroundings and how he got there. His theory about being sent to a possibly different world by that thing was not thrown out of the window, but it was still to early to make such assumptions. If he were to see this supposed symbol he as recovered from 3 nights ago, he would hope to find clues as to what happened with him that night.

※※※※※

More than several minutes later had passed. The two had already left the apartment complex to go to the location where Shizuki was found just three nights prior. Following Compa's lead, he walked about the city and couldn't help but marvel at the sights. The buildings, roads and even vehicles seemed to be futuristic in design, and the pedestrians that walked around them wore varying styles of clothes that would cause one back home to raise an eyebrow and question their fashion sense.

what's more, there was a white and green rectangular structure in the middle of the downtown area that did not resemble any landmark he's seen before.

"By the way Compa-san, what the heckt is this place?"

"We're in the main city of Leanbox, one of the four nations of Gamindustri."

"Leanbox? Gamindustri?"

Tsukamoto uttered out the two unfamiliar words as if asking for confirmation. It seems that his theory about being sent to a different world was beginning to sound more plausible.

"Mm, Ruled by the goddess, Green Heart, Leanbox is called the land of prosperity. It's a beautiful country where people settle down to retire or start a family."

"Is that so? It does kinda seem like the kind of place to settle down or take a vacation to every once and a while... wait, Goddess?"

Shizuki aptly responded while taking in his surroundings before something she said caught his attention. Meanwhile, Compa nodded and continued with the explanation.

"Gamindustri has four nations, all which are ruled by goddesses. Purple Heart for Planeptune, Black Heart for Lastation, White Heart for Lowee, and Green Heart for Leanbox."

"Well, I guess it's official. I'm no longer on earth... so these goddesses, what are they like?"

His theory was confirmed. He was without a doubt, in another world, one that was ruled by goddesses too. Despite this, he didn't seem that all concerned with the possibility of being stranded there, for one reason or another... Instead, he was more curious about the setting he was thrown into.

"Well, Nep-Nep's a lazy gamer that hates working, Noire's a busybody that spends all day in her office, Blanc's a shy anti social author who spends her day trying write novels, and Vert's also a gamer who spends too much time in her room."

"Eh?"

That description completely contrasted the kind of image he imagined the Goddesses would be. He pictured that they would be something like the Deities recorded in multiple religions and mythologies, some being kind and tranquil, some being vengeful, and some that were just plain vindictive, but from what it sounded like, the Gamindustrian Goddesses sounded more teenagers and collage students if anything.

With people like this running a whole country and its government, he was surprised these countries were still standing at all, much less functioning.

"That's... quite an interesting bunch. It sounds like you're pretty familiar with them though."

"Yeah! Nep-Nep, Ge-Ge, and everyone else are my friends! Maybe I'll introduce you to them sometime!"

The nurse in training spoke about her friends happily.

"Yeah, I'd like that. Oh?"

Shizuki returned a smile to the girl, before noticing something that caused him to stop.

The boy then went over to what looked like a pile of trash bags and had begun to shuffle through them.

"Hm? What are you doing, digging around the trash like that, Shizu-kun?"

Compa asked, tilting her head in confusion as she watched him rummage through the rubbish.

It was then that the boy had pulled out a long wooden object.

"Ah, perfect!"

It was a wooden sword. It was one of the wooden swords that were often used for training purposes by those practicing Kendo. Not lethal, but still very painful if hit hard enough by it.

"What's that?"

"It's a kendo training sword, and in good condition too... I wonder who would throw something like this away when it's not even damaged."

Tsukamoto mused as he inspected the weapon closely. Judging from the lack of dirt on it, it was likely that it had been thrown away very recently.

"I see that, but what are you gonna do with it, Shizu-kun?"

"We're going to a park just outside of town right? Who knows what kind of wild animal we'll run into on the way. Besides, I used to practice kendo for a while. This might be a good excuse to get back into it."

"Well, if you say so."

※※※※※

After walking for quite a while, the pair found themselves in a wooded area, surrounded by towering trees and nature, with only a small road that leads from the town and deeper into the forest.

There were no other humans visible in the area except for themselves.

During their walk into the park, the two had told each other about themselves, what their daily routines were, and what they were interested in. During this, Shizuki told her about the circumstances that lead to his sudden appearance in this world.

He may have omitted some facts such as his 'powers', but for the most part, he got the point across about him being from another world.

"So you're from another dimension?"

"It looks like it. I still don't understand it myself... who, or what was that thing that sent me here, and why?"

The blue haired teen's question was not really directed at his new friend, but more or less at himself as if reminding him if what really happened that night was real.

"Hmm, maybe there's something here that was missing in your world?"

"Hah, I sure wish it was something as poetic as that."

Tsukamoto shrugged, hanging his newly acquired weapon behind his head while walking.

"Still, you don't seem all that worried about being so far from home. Aren't you scared?"

"Eh? Well, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. This is a different world and a lot of things are so different. Even so, there's really no rush for me to get back home. I'd just like to think of it as being on vacation."

There were several reasons why Shizuki was not in any hurry to return to his home world. Most of them mainly revolved around how he was treated as an outcast because of his ability, and part of it was because the world in general was teetering on being too hostile for his own liking.

Between the chaos that was going on in the middle east, the uneasy vibe America was giving after its second civil war, and the heightened animosity toward Espers after several incidents, he did not want to stick around when all hell broke loose once more if he could help it.

Besides, he was curious about his new surroundings and the world he was brought to. The more he could find out, the more he could form an opinion to see if he was actually willing to stay here in the end.

"Well, until you decide to leave, you're welcome to stay at my place if you like!"

Compa offered, happily.

"Really? I mean, I don't want to be a bother if I can help it. Besides, isn't kind of weird having a guy you just met stay over your house like this?"

"It's no bother at all! Besides, it wouldn't feel right to just throw you out on the street... I also think you're a nice person Shizu-kun, so I trust you!"

Shizuki couldn't help but chuckle at that statement. he had been called quite a few things, but nice person was rarely one of them.

"Haha, well that's a first. I mean, I'd like to think I'm a nice person, but this is the first time someone's ever called me that outright."

"Really?" The pink haired girl tilted her head.

"Well, I guess the reason for that is that I don't really have a friend or two to chat with like this back home."

The youth cast his gaze off to the side as if remembering something unpleasant before trying to force said memory into the back of his head.

Before Compa could make a comment, she suddenly stopped and her attention was focused on something in front of her.

Shizuki noticed this too as he also stopped walking and looked at the scenery before him.

On the path before them were creatures. These creatures were frolicking around in the field before them like a heard of animals would.

Only these were not normal animals.

They were blue masses of unknown substances with dog like features with no arms or legs of any kind.

"Hey Compa-san, what the heckt are those?"

"Those are Doggos. They're little jelly monsters that look like dogs, but if you aren't quick enough, they latch onto you and try to get in your clothes. It's really icky.."

The pink haired nurse grimaced as she recalled the last time she encountered a Dogoo.

"Sounds kind of gross... oh well, time to get started then."

With a brief stretch, Tsukamoto readied his wooden sword as if preparing for combat, his face donning an eager smile.

The gesture only caused his partner to give him a confused look.

"Shizu-kun?"

"These things will be a problem if we continue right? Then I should try to take the good lot of em' out to make the path easier."

"I guess so... but can you really fight?"

"I DID used to practice kendo for a while back home. While I don't consider myself particularly good, I think I can handle these guys no problem!"

Shizuki let out a wry grin.

Some of the doggos in question had just now noticed their presence and were slowly making their way to their position.

"Okay, if you say so... in that case, I'll help out too then! Um, just let me get this out..."

And without warning, Compa had pulled out a ridiculously large object that shouldn't be able to fit on her person.

It was a massive syringe with an unknown pink substance inside.

"H-Huh?! What's with that huge syringe?!"

The appearance of the object had completely caught the youth off guard. At first glance, it appeared to be nothing more than a standard medical syringe.

The only thing was its size. It was comically too big for anyone to casually carry it around.

"Oh, this is my weapon. I use it to fight bad monsters! It's really nifty!"

"Uh-huh... I'm not even going to ask where you pulled that out from."

The blue haired teen stared at his partner's 'weapon' in disbelief before turning his attention to the on coming wave.

"Alright then, let's mop the road with these guys!"

"Yessy!"

With their spirits fired up, the pair promptly rushed toward the group of dogoos with Tsukamoto leading the charge.

A sharp battle cry escaped his lungs as he swung the wooden sword down on the first target he saw near him. The strike sent the doggo in question back, before it was hit again from another attack from the sword. The second strike had damaged the creature enough that it had expired, disappearing in a few pixelated lights.

Shizuki went onto the next target and dealt with them in the same manner. Compa on the other hand took her Syringe(?) and aimed it at some of the slime-like creatures and began to fire projectiles that were seemingly made out of some kind of energy at the Doggos as if it were some kind of Gatling gun.

The Doggos went down with little effort as the energy projectiles hit at least five of them unimpeded.

The youth continued his close ranged assault with his new weapon, taking out the small creatures with swift strikes. Some had managed to dodge a few of his hits, but they were ultimately too slow as he got close and dealt the finishing blows.

It wasn't that he was strong. In a fight against any other creature or a trained human, he would lose for sure. The Doggos were fairly weak in comparison to other beasts however. Even a child with a baseball bat could deal with these things easily.

"Hah! This is pretty good exercise! I just might start practicing again!"

with a grin, Shizuki continued to fight back, hitting any Dooggo that came into close proximity of his weapon.

However...

"K-Kyaaaaaaa!"

A nearby scream had caught his attention.

"?!"

"D-Don't go in there...!"

He quickly turned around to see that one of the creatures had gotten the jump on Compa and had already latched itself onto her, trying to get into her clothes.

"Hang in there, Compa-san!"

He swatted one of the creatures aside before going to her aid, but his advance was quickly stopped as one of the Doggos had hopped onto his head, getting in his hair.

"H-Hey! Get off!"

The teen had quickly yanked off the creature throwing it aside when another one had attached itself to his pant leg.

"Oi Oi, Tsukamoto Shizuki is not a free ride for slime dogs! Off with you!"

The boy protested, shaking his leg vigorously in order to get the slime lifeform to detach itself off his leg. The creature relented and it was dealt with with a swift strike to the head.

Shizuki then rushed over to Compa who was starting to get surrounded by a few of them while struggling to get rid of the one that latched onto her.

With small shout, he rushed over to his partner and struck the the masses of slime with his weapon, taking them out.

And at the same time, the pink haired nurse managed to force the thing off of her and threw it away before it was promptly struck in the head by a certain wooden sword.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"I'm fine desu... is that all of them?"

"Yeah, I think so... Boy were those things persistent. I'm starting to see why you didn't like dealing with them."

Shizuki let out a sigh of relief as he extended his hand to help up his partner.

"Uguuu... I never wanna fight another doggo for as long as I live..."

The girl groaned as she took his hand and stood up dusting herself off.

The two took a brief sigh of relief, feeling that they had dealt with all of the blue masses of slime that proliferated in the area.

However...

They had noticed a large shadow loom over them from behind. The pair had slowly turned their heads to see what monstrosity has appeared this time.

A Doggo. More specifically, a Doggo that was ten times bigger than the ones they had exterminated.

Fighting dozens of smaller doggos were bad enough as it was, but a big one?

Shizuki's left eye twitched slightly as he imagined how much of a nightmare it would be to tackle this thing.

"...Yep, screw this."

And having said that, Shizuki took off running down the path they traveling on before.

"Wait for me, Shizu-kuuunn!"

Compa took off running as well, the giant mass of slime hopping after them.

※※※※※

After running for a few minutes, the pair had already lost sight of the giant thing. Doggos were not fast creatures at all and could be easily outran, and the same went double for the bigger ones. Fortunately, Doggos also tended to give up, once their target of interest had reached a certain distance.

In the end, they were not hostile creatures, but simply liked latching onto other people and getting into their clothes for whatever reason.

"I think we lost it..." Said Shizuki as he rested his hands on his knees, breathing a bit heavily.

After a catching his breath for a few moments, he suddenly saw something that caught his eye just up ahead.

"Eh? What's that?"

He saw something that was etched into the ground just up ahead, but couldn't make out what it was from where he was standing.

"Oh, this is it!"

The pink haired girl spoke up before running over to the area Shizuki had spotted. With curiosity, the youth followed her lead and walked over to the area to get a better look.

"Ah, is this..."

On the ground before them was an intricately drawn symbol, almost resembling summoning circles drawn by cultists. Only two things stood out to them.

One of them was that the symbol was not drawn onto the ground. It was 'burned' into it, as if the ground was branded by whatever created the symbol.

And the other... it was drawn in such a complex way that the lines and writing seemed almost alien in design.

"This is where I found you, Shizu-kun. You fell from a light in the sky and landed right here."

"This... is definitely something. Now I'm one hundred percent positive that thing sent me here. I don't know of a single thing back home that could make something like this."

The teen walked over to the symbol and stepped inside of it before kneeling down and tracing his fingers through the lines that were burned into the surface.

"Compa-san, does this look like anything familiar to you? Have you seen something like this anywhere else?"

The addressed shook her head.

"Nope, never seen anything like it before desu..."

"That so huh? It doesn't look like there are any clues nearby about this thing either. Do you think we should head back and-"

A strange sound interrupted Tsukamoto, causing him to stop in his tracks.

"What the heckt was that sound?"

The sound was heard again, only louder. They could not determine where it came from, but it sounded nearby...

"I have a bad feeling about this desu..."

And in that moment, the ground their feet was planted on was rapidly crumbling from the added pressure.

It appeared that the ground they were standing on was hollow and whatever branded the ground and weakened it to the point of crumbling apart.

"W-Whoaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

The pair screamed at the top of their lungs as they plummeted down into the depths unknown.

※※※※※

Darkness. That was the only word they could describe when they came to their senses. The sunlight and clear blue sky they were under was replaced with a dark ceiling made of rock, with a hole where the sun was shining down on them.

"Ohh..."

Shizuki lifted himself up and rubbed his head with his right hand. The fall didn't seem high enough to be fatal, but it was enough daze him and leave him with a few scrapes.

"Well that was terrible... Hey, Compa-san, are you alright?"

The youth looked over to his new friend as the person in question lifted herself up and rubbed her head, still dazed from the fall.

"Yessy... I think so."

"Where are we?"

Tsukamoto looked around to get a good view of their surroundings. It was indeed a cave. However, there was something unusual about it though.

Like most caves it was dark and wet, but rather than the cave being completely pitch black, it was dimly lit by a collection of blue glowing crystals, littered on the walls, ceiling and floors of the cave. Something which the youth never saw before in any cave as far as he knew.

"I think we're beneath the park... this place feels a bit weird desu..."

"I don't think we're going to get out the way we came... the hole's too high up to climb out of."

Letting out a dejected side, he got onto his feet and looked around for a possible way out. There were no rocks that they could stand on top of and the walls were too smooth and damp to climb on.

"But how are we going to get out of here, Shizu-kun?"

Asked Compa as she too stood up.

"There's a small draft coming in from the left... I'm guessing that leads to somewhere outside."

The blue haired youth faced the direction of the cave he had pointed out. There was indeed a draft coming from there, albeit faint and not immediately noticeable.

"Oh, I feel it too!"

"Let's get going, I don't want to hang around here too much."

"Y-Yessy!"

Tsukamoto shivered a bit before pressing forward down the cave, the girl nodding before following his lead.

About a good 19 minutes had passed since they started walking. They could feel the draft getting ever so stronger, but there was still no sign of any daylight from ahead.

The only light source that was visible in the cavern were the glowing crystals that scattered all across the walls and floors. For people who enjoyed dark rooms with ambient lighting, they would probably appreciate this place having its own light source with out any eternal power source.

However, the two humans that were currently traversing the dimly lit caverns did not share those sentiments. In fact, they were rather uncomfortable here, especially a certain pink haired nurse if her mild complaint was any indication.

"We've been walking for a long time Shizu-kun... are you sure we're going the right way?"

"The draft's gotten stronger hasn't it? Just a little bit further and we'll be out of this place soon."

Shizuki spoke as he gave his partner a reassuring smile. He did understand her complaints though. They had been walking for roughly 20 minutes and they had yet to find the exit. Being stuck in a dark place like this was bound to play with one's nerves if they were not used to frequenting such places.

Just as she let out a small sigh, Compa stopped in her tracks and turned her gaze upward at some part of the cavern ceiling.

"Hm? What's wrong, Compa-san?"

The girl remained quiet for a few seconds before shaking her head.

"Mm, it's nothing desu. Probably just imagining things."

Before Tsukamoto could say anything, a small bit of dust and rock began to fall in front of them.

"Man, I seriously hope this place isn't going to cave in on us."

Given how they ended up in these caves to begin with, it was not outside the realm of possibility that the ceilings were beginning to crumble apart. That however would pose another big problem for the two as the rubble would either crush them if they weren't fast enough, or it would trap them inside.

with this in mind, the pair were motivated to move more quickly than they had been.

However...

"?!"

Something else would be blocking their path entirely.

Dropping down from the ceiling above was an tall, alien-looking creature that was brown in coloration with glowing red eyes.

Its body was appeared to have the torso of a humanoid with two long arms, each having claws resembling that of a scorpion or lobster's, a lower body that seemed to belong to that of an arachnid, and a long prehensile tail with a sharp object attached to its end.

What made the creature more horrifying is that beyond its seemingly humanoid facial features, it had a huge mouth that displayed multiple rows of teeth all over the inside of its mouth and two pairs of horns on top of its hairless head.

 **"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅――!"**

The atrocity made a loud sound that no human could ever recreate, causing the pair to shield their ears.

Completely startled by this creature's sudden appearance, Shizuki fell onto his bottom and backed away by a foot.

"W-W-What the hell is that?!"

"T-That's a scary monster desu..!"

The pink haired girl quivered out while staring at the creature. She didn't appear to be as startled as Tsukamoto, but still found the monster's appearance to be unsettling all the same.

A certain tail stood up from behind that creature.

And like a jaguar pouncing on its prey, the tail shot out at Compa to strike her with its sharp end.

"Compa-san!"

Without thinking, the boy jumped to his feet and pushed his friend out of the way, but...

"Kuahhhh――!"  
The stinger had struck Tsukamoto, grazing his back in the process and tearing across the back of his school uniform jacket.

"Shizu-kun!"

"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅――!"

The abomination let out a loud sound as its tail retracted from the area it struck and stood up again, preparing for another go.

And without another moment's hesitation, the tail moved again only this time, it instead, wrapped around the pink haired girl and lifted her up off the ground.

"Waaaaaaaaahhhhhhh! Help meeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

"Compa-san! Hey, get your grubby little ha- er, tail off of her you discount Xenomorph!"

The youth demanded of the thing, while pointing his wooden sword at it. The gesture however, caused him to wince in pain from the cut he received on his back.

 _("I should probably take care of that first... but if I do use my regeneration, she might get suspicious.")_

Shizuki had not told Compa about his abilities, when explaining his circumstances for appearing here.

The reason was obvious.

He did not know if there were any 'Gifted' people like himself in this world much like those back on earth, but he was not going to risk it. The girl who pulled him from that circle. The girl who treated his injuries and the only person he knows in this world so far.

He had only known her for at best an hour, but he could already tell that she was a kind hearted person. Perhaps too kind.

But then again, there were those in his life who appeared almost as kind as she was, yet in the end, they turned on him.

Because he was not one of them.

Because he was different from them, people who claimed to be his friends turned on him and abandoned him when he needed them.

He felt like he had a chance to start over from zero in this new world he was brought into, leaving the turmoil he suffered from back on earth. If the only person whom he may have made a genuine friendship with in a long time found out that he was not human..

No. No way was he going to compromise his second chance. No way was he ever going to endure that kind of pain again.

"Help mee Shizu-kuunnnn――!"

 _("Gah! I can worry about that later!")_

Having been pulled out of his musings by his friend's perilous screams, Tsukamoto closed his eyes several seconds and a faint azure light appeared on the wound on his back, slowly repairing the skin tissue.

"Hang on, Compa-san! I'll get you down from there some how!"

The youth assumed a stance, readying his weapon. The idea of facing a horrific Cave Dweller was terrifying him, but at the same time, he couldn't just turn tails and run away.

The girl recovered, treated him, and even offered him residence in her home despite being total strangers. To run away now would be paramount to throwing away her kindness. He had to save her. It was the least he could do.

The boy took a deep breath as he closed his eyes.

And within the net two seconds, his eyes opened as he sprinted at full speed toward the Cave Dweller and his weapon quickly moved in to connect with the atrocity.

A series of attacks were made as Tsukamoto repeatedly struck the beast with his sword, with as much speed and force as his mortal body could muster.

No part of the monster's lower body was spared as the sword connected with every part of the front lower body in an unrelenting flurry. After a good minute or repeatedly wailing on the thing, the youth finally stopped to catch his breath. However...

"...Hah?"

The attack had not damaged the creature. Not even a single one.

"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅――!"

In a sound of annoyance, the Cave Dweller made a single swipe with its long right arm and knocked him back into a wall, hitting his self repairing wound on it.

"Gaaahh――!"

"Shizu-kun!"

Cried out Compa, feeling the tail wrapped around her get tighter.

 _*HISS*_

"Kuh... right back at you, smiles."

wincing from his wound and the impact in general, Tsukamoto slowly lifted himself up and glared at the creature. The damn thing was too strong. what would have bludgeoned a normal guy's face if they stood still, did absolutely nothing to the abomination.

 _("What now? I hit him as hard as I could and there's not even a scratch on that thing!")_

And just when he was about to decide on his next action, the creature hacked up and spit out an unknown substance from its huge mouth.

 _("Shit!")_

The youth instinctively jumped over to the left and landed on his side, narrowly dodging the fluid.

Said fluid had then begun to corrode and eat away at the ground where Shizuki was once at.

"Acid?! Really?!"

"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅――!"

He was not going to keep this up for much longer. No matter what he did, his attacks wouldn't hurt the creature, its tail was gripping the pink haired girl tightly, and it has shown it being able to spit out corrosive acid from a good distance.

The Cave Dweller was proving to be even more dangerous by the minute, and that was not going to change if he did not do something quick.

 _("Crap... I can't do anything in this situation! I'm as helpless as I was back with those thugs!")_

The blue haired youth grimaced at his own powerlessness of this situation. He wanted to save the girl in front of him, but he was not strong enough to do it. It was the night in the alley way all over again. Unable to truly do anything in the end.

 _("If only there was something I could use...! Unless...")_

There was something. Aside from his healing ability, Shizuki had another power that could possibly turn the tide in this situation. But...

It is something that he would never dare to utilize in any circumstance under sheer principle. It was an ability so awful, not even this atrocity deserves to suffer under it.

 _("No... I can't use that! I absolutely won't use that horrible thing! But...")_

Tsukamoto looked up at Compa who was struggling to breath from the Cave Dweller's Grasp. If this continued any longer, she will eventually be crushed.

He shut his eyes tightly, his body and hands trembling as they tightly held the wooden weapon.

"Damn it...!"

Just as he was about to give in, just as he was about to give in and go through with using that power, something unbelievable happened.

Three small silver streaks flew past Shizuki, and lodged themselves into the creature in three different spots.

The lower body.

The upper body's stomach.

And the creature's left eye.

And in that same instance...

 _*BOOM!*_

Each of the three daggers exploded, causing the Cave Dweller to let out a horrific shriek and drop its hostage from its tail.

"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅――!"

"Wha――?!"

He barely even had a chance to react to this sudden turn of events, as a blue streak flew past him with great speed, snatched up Compa from where she had fallen and made a U-turn back toward his direction and grabbed him as well.

"Woaaahhh...!"

He was moving at speeds that no ordinary human could run at, being carried by a person he had never seen before.

From his angle, he could tell that it was a girl with long brown hair, wearing some kind of blue overcoat, but he could not see her face.

"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅――!"

Tsukamoto heard the Cave Dweller's demented cries as multiple foot steps were drawing closer from the end of the cave they ere being carried from. Some how, the atrocity had survived those exploding daggers and became pissed off as a result.

"Hey, we're almost out of here, so just hang on a bit longer."

The newcomer spoke for the first time, likely trying to reassure him after noticing his reaction to the threat that was approaching.

As they continued to be mobile, a bright light suddenly shone from ahead of them. They were rapidly approaching the exit of the dark cavern they were trapped in.

After emerging from the darkness, the girl in blue dropped off Shizuki and the semi-conscious Compa and spun around to face the cave entrance.

With two quick strokes, the stranger threw two daggers at the ceiling of the cave and exploded within seconds, causing the rubble to fall on top of the Cave Dweller that was right behind them.

The creature was crushed and everyone was saved.

"Phew, that was cutting it close... are you two alright?"

The savior asked the pair, wiping her forehead.

"Other than a few scraps and loosing a few years off my life? Yeah, just fine."

"I'm fine too desu..."

A certain pink haired nurse muttered weakly as she sat up.

"That's good to hear. If you hadn't texted me when you did, you would've been goners..."

"Thanks for saving our butts back there. I was almost going to- wait, text?"

Tsukamoto tilted his head slightly to the right in confusion. He felt as if he was missing something.

"Oh! While we were walking in that cave, I texted Iffy to come find us if we couldn't find away out."

Compa exclaimed, before taking out a pink cell phone and showed him a text message she had recently sent.

It read:

 **From: Compa Loveheart**

 **To: IF**

 **Sub: Trapped in weird cave with Shizu-kun. Trying to find a way out. Come find us if we can't get out desu!**

"Oh. That makes sense... but how'd you find us?"

"Our phones have an app that let's us track our friend's movements. It's kinda neat."

The girl in blue explained.

"I see. So I guess you're one of Compa-san's friends?"

"Mhm, the name's IF. Nice to meet you."

The girl called IF gave him a friendly smile as she introduced herself. Shizuki returned the gesture with a smile on his own, holding his hand out to shake.

"I'm Shizuki. Tsukamoto... Shi..."

A dizzying sensation suddenly rushed over him. The world began to twist and turn in many direction, and his body became hot.

Eventually, he could not stand anymore and his body fell face first onto the ground.

"H-Hey!"

"Shizu-kun!"

Two voices called out to him, but they could not be heard. By that time, a certain blue haired youth had fallen unconscious from something overlooked.

On his back was a gash that had already closed up halfway, leaving a small wound that had begun to turn into a faint black color.

It had not immediately kicked in when it happened, but a toxin of some kind was injected into his body when the Cave Dweller struck him with its tail.

The world had gone silent for Tsukamoto Shizuki and everything was replaced with blackness.

 _ **Episode 1:**_

 _ **Welcome to Gamindustri**_

* * *

Afterword:

Annnnnnnd it is done. The first episode of the re-write for Sephira is here. That took a lot longer than I planned and the chapter overall became longer than intended, but what can you do. There was going to be a different cliffhanger for this one, but I thought that the chapter was long enough as it was. So I kinda made up some of the last bit on the spot so forgive me if it seems rushed.

Anyway, if you haven't already noticed, I took the liberty of using some of the first bits of Re;birth 1 as a base for this episode. I figured it would be best to start off around more familiar territory before going into the "meaty stuff" of the story, because things will get crazy later on.

The next episodes will be totally different from the released ones of the what I'll now call the Prototype version. Well except for Eps. 2 and 3. Episode 2 will be a revamped version of proto-episode 5, and episode 3 will also be a revamped version of what I had originally planned for proto-ep 6. After that, things should be completely different from what's been released going forward.

Sorry for springing this up out of the blue. I know some of you enjoyed the proto version of the story, but I just wasn't satisfied with how it was handled. I think the issue I had with that one was that I was trying to focus on too much at the very beginning.

However, I assure ya'll that this is a better version, and things will be a bit more gradual as time progresses.

So that should be it for now. Again, sorry about the sudden reboot and the delay for it. Along with careful planning of the story, I've also been dealing with some personal issues that sent me into a depression deeper than the grand f*cking cannon itself.

And so to quote Third Fang as I close off this Afterword:

"REVIEW! WORSHIP THE LOG! THANK YOU FOR READING HYPERDIMENSION SEPHIRA! AND REVIEW AGAIN!"

Until next time!


	2. Episode 2: Into The Gleam Eyes

Episode 2:

Into The Gleam Eyes

* * *

Snow. That was the only word he could describe the image that was caught in his brown eyes.

The land around him was covered in a sheet of white that continued to fall from the sky ever so gently. The houses, cars and the shoulders and umbrellas of the very few people that walked the streets were covered in such a gentle white sheet.

The small numbers of people that were outside continued their daily lives, going about their business as they normally have.

But, not once did they stop to notice the small figure sitting in the snow alone.

It was a girl. A small girl who was weeping silently as she sat there alone.

Why?

Why was that girl crying? Why was she alone? How long has she been there like this?

Those were the only questions that permeated his thoughts as he watched the scene unfold.

No one stopped to notice the girl. No one stopped to check if she was okay.

They either never noticed her existence, or they had decided to write her off as inconsequential to their own lives.

This made him angry. It made him angry why no one would bother to notice a crying child who was clearly in distress.

But at the same time, this scene would give him an unexplained sadness.

It was not the girl's situation that made his chest heavy, but there was something about it that resonated deeply inside him.

Then as if a prayer was answered, someone came.

It was a young boy with medium length hair, around the same age as the weeping girl.

He could see neither of their faces, nor could he actually hear what they were saying, if they were even speaking at all.

But one thing seemed clear.

The girl's crying stopped.

The two children's figures could no longer be seen as the world around them faded to white.

※※※※※

* * *

Tsukamoto was unsure how long he had been unconscious.

He shook his hazy head and saw the ceiling of a certain room. That was enough to tell him where he was.

After all, this was the second time he woke up in this place.

"Augh... not even a full day and I'm already falling unconscious... Wait.. don't tell me another three days have passed?"

As he felt a light throbbing, he began to retrace the number of events that led to this current moment in time.

 _("That's right... I got stuck in that cave with Compa-san, got attacked by that creature, and was saved by that girl who called herself... IF, I think.")_

Shizuki took note of the bandages wrapped around his person, but not to the extent as the last time he had awoken.

In fact, most of it was focused around a certain area on his back ── the same area he was struck when the Cave Dweller attacked. For some reason, that part of his body felt somewhat numb.

"But why'd I suddenly pass out like that? I don't think I lost that much blood..."

"Oh, you're awake."

A female voice pulled the youth out of his thoughts, causing him to look at the source.

Standing in the doorway of the room was a fair skinned girl with emerald eyes and light brown hair that was about waist length, with the length of the hair she wears in a ponytail, held with a leafy green hair piece.

It was IF ── the girl who saved them earlier, only this time, she was missing her blue coat.

"Looks like it..." Groaned Shizuki. "How long was I out?"

"About three hours. You really had us nervous for a minute there."

"Three hours huh?"

It seemed ironic that there was a recurring trend with him falling unconscious for a specific amount of time with the number three in it. Tsukamoto wondered if this was some kind of omen.

"But what knocked me out? I don't think it was from blood loss..."

"Oh," said IF as she crossed her arms and explained. "That thing apparently hit you with its tail and injected some kind of toxin in you. Thankfully, it wasn't fatal and Compa was able to treat you on the spot."

"Is that so, huh? That explains the bandages..."

The blue haired youth simply sighed to himself, then he remembered something.

"Wait, where's Compa-san?"

"Compa's in the living room sleeping on the sofa."

Tsukamoto frowned in response. As glad as he was to hear that she was okay, he felt that their resting spots should be reversed.

"Why? I should be the one sleeping on the sofa. I'm a guest here after all."

"Beggars can't be choosers now can they? Besides, I don't think a sofa would've been comfortable given the state you were in." The Brunette shrugged. "By the way, how're you feeling?"

"My head kind of hurts and my back feels a little numb, but other than that, I'm pretty much fine."

Shizuki rotated his arm back in forth, trying to work out any 'kinks' that were in his shoulder.

"Glad to hear it." IF replied with a relaxed smile. "So I heard you're actually from another dimension. Is that true?"

"Well, yeah. To be honest, I still can't believe it. One moment, I was in that dark alleyway, beaten up and bruised, and the next thing I knew, I was laying in this bed."

"Compa told me you said some kind of Light Goddess sent you here."

The youth placed a hand on his chin as he started to recall the entity and its features.

A woman made of light with long hair and robes entered his mind, bearing a kind smile that could not be seen.

"Yeah... and before you ask, no I've never seen anything like that back home before then. I don't know who or what she is, where she came from, and why she sent me here. Heck, I can't even remember half of what she said to me before sending me off."

"Hmm... and you don't know of any way of getting back to your world?"

Tsukamoto simply shrugged.

"I haven't the slightest clue. And if I did, I don't think I would return. At least not yet."

"?"

The Brunette couldn't help but to be puzzled with his statement. Under normal circumstances, people would be freaking out in regards to their circumstances and new surroundings. This wasn't the first time Gamindustri had visitors from elsewhere before, and said visitors were relatively calm about their situation too.

But they were also Goddesses who were anything BUT normal. Tsukamoto Shizuki on the other hand appeared to be a normal high school boy with low tier combat skills.

And yet not only was he calm about his situation, but even said that he would not return to his world.

Why?

"Why wouldn't you want to go back?"

"Well..."

Shizuki trailed off for a bit as chose his words carefully. He wanted to avoid talking about his powers or the topic of Espers for that matter.

"I'm not really fond of or overly attached to that place in general despite living there most of my life. I don't have any friends and my only family member is always away overseas, so no one would really miss me. Besides..."

He turned his gaze towards the window, or rather, what resided beyond it. The sun had just set and the sky was dark with thousands of stars sparkling above the cityscape.

"...If I did leave, I would probably go on to miss this place for a long time despite only spending not even a full day here."

He knew deep down he didn't want to return to that place. He may have lived there, but he never felt that it was truly his home. He had spent about three days in Gamindustri, but to him, those days he spent unconscious and bed ridden did not count.

Cave dwelling monstrosities and slime dogs not withstanding, Gamindustri truly seemed like a welcoming and interesting place to him, and he would not mind remaining here permanently.

Still, that left one issue.

"I suppose there's no harm in letting you stay here really... but what are you going to do?"

IF asked after sighing.

"For starters, I was thinking about traveling. Like visiting the four nations and getting a feel for this place before making any final decisions. Compa-san told me she was friends with all of the Goddesses so maybe I could be able to meet them as well."

"Funny, I just happen to live in the Basilicom with Vert." She stated.

"Wait, really?"

"Yeah, though it's mainly because Vert likes having me around."

"Vert... that's the one who's always playing games in her room right?" Asked Shizuki.

"You bet. You wouldn't believe how much of my initial image of her crumbled..."

An exasperated sigh had escaped the brown haired girl's throat. It had been several years since she first met the goddess and to this day, she still finds her self in somewhat disbelief of her actions and hobbies.

The blue haired youth simply chuckled to himself.

 _("Just what image was that?")_

"Anyway, it's getting late. I know you just woke up and everything, but you should get a full night's sleep before anything else."

IF headed over to the bedroom exit and started to leave.

"Ah, gotchya."

Even though he wasn't a fan of going right back to sleep after just waking up just minutes ago, especially after being asleep for three days, he understood that his body needed more time to rest and properly recover.

But before he could, there was one thing he had to do.

"Oh, and Ai-san?"

"Hm? What is it?"

"Thanks for saving us out there."

"Don't mention it."

And after giving a smile, the girl left the room closing the door behind her.

Tsukamoto laid his head back onto the pillow and stared up at the ceiling of a certain room. As difficult as it was, he could force himself to fall back asleep as long as he remained in the position he was currently in. The ceiling above him was white and featureless, so if he stared at it for a while, the action would eventually bore him enough to fall back to sleep.

 _("Well, here's to hoping day two goes better than the first.")_

※※※※※

* * *

In this world, there are locations across the continent that have been deemed dangerous or uncharted to explore.

These locations were called Dungeons.

These were not the kind of dungeons that people would be imprisoned in by soldiers, but rather, it was a term used for places where those who ventured there did not return.

Whoever traveled there out of curiosity or for the sake of adventure, would go missing or meet an untimely end, and those sent to look for them or recover their bodies also met similar fates.

This place was no different.

Many men and women had made the journey to tackle on the monster that resided here were not prepared and had perished in a futile effort to slay the beast.

Because of the high threat the creature posed, a cash reward was put out for anyone willing or capable of ending the creature.

And with such an enticing offer, many had jumped at the task for the sole purpose of obtaining the reward, but because their minds were in the wrong place, because they overestimated their abilities, they failed.

They would meet their end while others barely manage to survive to tel the tale.

The previous day, the Gleam Eyes would claim its fourth round of victims. It was a being that did not tolerate trespassers in its domain.

To it, trespassing was a death sentence.

However, this fact did not deter the next two too much.

"Eh, so this is the place where this mystery monster supposedly lives?"

"I believe so... but do we even know what we're supposed to be looking for?"

"Hell if I know. People keep saying the damn thing's a big demon."

The voices came from a pair of hunters doing some late night work for the guild.

The first voice came from a well built man in his mid twenties with blue eyes and black hair, styled in a crew cut.

The second one however, came from a young woman who seemed to be in her late teens to early twenties, with blue eyes and red hair styled in a ponytail.

"Still... whatever lives here must be really powerful. Are you sure we can handle this?"

"Oh nonsense! We've trained long enough to make it to this point, didn't we? We can handle something like this just fine. Don't tell me you''re still afraid of the dark after all this time."

"O-Of course not you blockhead! Otherwise, I never would have taken this line of work in the first place!"

"Hah, whatever you say, sis."

The pair continued deeper into the cave, walking past mangled up corpses of animals and other hunters like themselves.

This only seemed to make the girl even more nervous if her quivering legs was any indication. And although the male did not show it, he had to admit that he wasn't expecting this much blood and gore on the way in.

"Um... maybe we should head back."

"What and return home to tell everybody that we chickened out? No way, the guys back home will never let me live that down! Not to mention the we'd be throwing away the cash reward for killing this thing."

"B-But still! We've only just started going on hunts three months ago! I dont think we're ready to take on something like this..."

The male only frowned at his sister's words and simply sighed.

"Ugh, fine, here's what we'll do. You can just hang back while I fight the thing head on. If it gets too much for me, I'll bail us out. Sound good?"

"Mm... that's fine I guess."

"Great! Just let big brudda handle things from here on out and we'll be fine!"

"Muu, you're making fun of me aren't you?"

The girl grumbled and pouted at her brother's comment. As often as she relied on him, there aspects of his personality that annoyed her at times.

They continued their trek into the lair to find their target, but they would spot something that would cause them to stop in their tracks.

The male was the first to take notice.

"Hey, you see that?"

"What is... that?"

Amidst the mangled corpses was a demonic monster with muscles as taut as ropes rippling up its towering form. Its skin was deep blue and its eyes glinted with the same blue-white hue, matching the tint of the light in its domain.

The appearance of that thing was enough to cause the girl to take a step back.

"W-What is that...?!"

"I'd say this is our monster..."

The male examined the creature from afar, taking note of its features.

Its eyes glowed as it stared back at them with killing intent as clear as day. The demon rose from its seat and brandished an equally massive blade that resembled like a zanbato.

The beast's towering form struck fear into both the siblings, causing them to take a few steps back.

After what seemed like an eternity, the sister spoke up in a clearly frightened tone.

"L-Let's leave..! There's no way we can beat that!"

"Y'know what, I'm right behind you for once...!"

with their fear and survival instincts taking over, the pair took off running for the hills like a bat our of hell.

They never even bothered to look back.

But without any warning, something massive swung toward the brother and he fell down.

This sudden action caused his younger sibling to stop in her tracks and look back, to find something horrible happened.

"Bro...ther...?"

"..."

The cave floor became a canvas as a florescent red liquid painted them as if a large pint was splattered across.

Then it finally clicked.

 **"A-AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! MY LEGS!"**

His legs were sliced off cleanly by that giant sword.

He screamed as he suffered in absolute agony and the shock of the loss of his legs.

The massive demon reached forward. The legless man was grabbed by that giant hand and a loud crunch was heard.

He screamed. He screamed. He screamed as sharp canines dug into his flesh and began chopping him down repeatedly.

And then, his screaming stopped. The screaming stopped when his whole body was consumed after being bitten to smaller chunks.

And she had witnessed it all.

She had witnessed her brother being eaten alive.

Abruptly, truly abruptly, his life ended without accomplishing anything.

"N...No..."

Terror immediately filled her mind, her body becoming paralyzed upon witnessing the death of someone she relied on for many years.

 **"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO──!"**

Her knees became weak, giving into the complete fear and despair that took over her head.

Useless.

She could have saved her brother from this cruel fate, but instead she stood like a coward and let it happen.

Many emotions made up her mindstate right now. Hatred, disgust, fear, despair, hopelessness, and shame. All of them had become indistinguishable from each other to the point where it became one thing.

"H...Hah...Hahahahahahahahahahaha──!"

Insanity.

Her mind was broken. Up until now, she had relied on her brother for everything. But now he was gone and she let it happen.

"Of course..! This is my punishment for being a useless sister... Yes...!"

After a while, her eyes met the creature's. Those horrible white eyes, now turned red.

It bellowed out an incomprehensible noise as its jaw opened four times the norm of an average human.

It raised its sword. It did not tolerate outsiders.

She had to die.

Her fate was already sealed the moment she set foot in that place.

For a moment, she wondered why the Goddess did not simply deal with this monstrosity instead of having people like her and her brother fight it.

She no longer had the will to survive.

She would accept her fate as punishment for failing to save her brother.

"Please forgive me... brother..."

A loud crunch echoed throughout the cave, while more red paint splattered across the stone canvas.

※※※※※

* * *

Before anyone had realized it, morning had come and the sun had long since risen.

It was approximately around 11:00 AM and a certain teenaged male woke up.

Despite having slept for most of his time here, he felt pretty well rested this time. The light headache he had before was gone, and his back was feeling better.

Yawning, Shizuki left the room while rubbing his eyes and made his way into the living room and saw that the television was on and the sofa was already being occupied.

It looks like the other two are well awake.

"Morning..."

"Oh, morning Shizu-kun!"

"Hey Shizu. How are you feeling?"

Lounging on the sofa were IF and Compa who appeared to be changed into their sleepwear. IF was wearing a black long sleeved hoodie nightgown while Compa wore a long white nightgown with a white bow tied around her neck.

"A lot better actually. Guess I really needed that rest after all."

He said so, while stretching his right arm a bit.

"What are you guys watching?"

"There isn't on much right now so just news, here come sit with us."

Compa moved over so he could sit on the middle cushion, in which the youth did so shortly after.

Shizuki turned his attention to the television screen which featured a female news reporter with blonde hair, speaking on the next story.

 _{"...And in other news today, two siblings have been reported missing by their family last night after a planned expedition to the dungeon of the mysterious Gleam Eyes. This happened just after a number of disappearances related to similar attempts to slay the creature, following the cash reward the Guild put out in return for killing it. Although it has not left its territory, the Guild warns that this creature is extremely dangerous and that its territory should not be approached unless you are properly prepared. As of now, 12 people are missing and presumed dead in the extermination attempts. Recovery of the victims has yet to be carried out."}_

"Yikes, that sounds bad. That Gleam Eyes thing wouldn't happen to be the thing that pricked me in that cave yesterday would it?"

"As much as I'd like to think that, it's not." IF replied, crossing her arms. "From the info I received, this monster cut down a party of 5 with a single swing. One person just barely managed to escape when it happened."

"O-One swing? That's hardcore... I'm almost scared to ask what it looks like."

Hearing this made the youth think that this creature would be on a completely different level than the Cave Dweller they fought just the day before. If this new monster was capable of taking out 5 people in one go, then it had to be physically impressive.

"According to some of the survivors, it's a tall blue demon with a giant sword."

"Tall blue demon?"

He could picture it now. Although it was somewhat vague, he had proper idea of what the creature looked like.

The word 'Demon' was generally applied to any creature or person that looked horrific or had an evil vibe to them. Imagining the creature with the simple description given would be an easy enough task for anyone as long they can picture a frightening entity and applying it to the current situation.

If it was anything like he imagined or worse, he did not want to be stuck in the same room with such a thing.

However while in the mist of visualizing the monster, a thought came to the sole male's mind.

"Wait a sec, the only reason this thing is a threat to anyone in the first place is because people keeps trespassing in its territory right? Then why can't they just put up a sign that says "Do not Enter", or even seal up the entrance with cement or something?"

As sound and reasonable as his question was, the brown haired girl simply shook her head and sighed.

"A sign and some caution tape isn't going to be enough to deter people from entering. If anything, it might pique their interest even more. Plus, there's no telling what could happen if we did try to seal the entrance shut. It could break out and go on a rampage, then we'd really have a crisis."

There was too much they didn't know about the Gleam Eyes. Any hasty actions toward it may disrupt is usual behavior and attack patterns. If it attacked a populated area, there is no telling what damage would be done and how many casualties would result from it. Ultimately, it would catch the attention of the Goddess and force her to act.

Which brought up yet another question.

"What about the Goddess? Wouldn't she be able to handle the thing instead?"

"Technically, she could and she normally does, but Vert's been busy with a few things lately and can't carry out exterminations. Usually, the people that does handle extermination requests in Vert's stead is the Commander for the Basilicom Guard Force or me whenever I'm around."

"I see..." Tsukamoto sighed. "As long as that thing doesn't leave its area and attack people, I guess I'm okay with it being as is. Even though I don't really feel comfortable with people going off to fight it, even if it's for money."

It seemed that this world was not advanced enough to completely do away with its currency system, and the quest to obtain it was as strong as ever like it was back in his world, much to the point where people would risk their lives to fight a dangerous creature in a dark cave somewhere.

Which meant that this world must also have its fair share of poverty, hunger and greedy corporations screwing over others for their sole benefit.

Shizuki could only sigh to himself as the thought, "Some things never change" crossed his mind.

And at the same time, he came to a realization. The realization of a voice that was missing in their conversation.

"Compa-san?"

"..."

The person in question had grown silent after the news report and had not spoken a word since. Instead, her eyes were downcast, as if contemplating something.

And then, she finally spoke.

"Iffy, do you mind if we something today?"

"Don't tell me, you want to go and deal with the monster, don't you?"

"Yes, even klutzy old me wants help Leanbox and Vert.."

"Funny," The brown haired girl smiled and stood up from the sofa. "I was thinking the same thing. I was planning on doing some guild work today anyway, so we might as well."

"Really desu?"

Compa's expression suddenly perked upon hearing this.

"Mm, this Gleam Eyes monster is just plain bad news, so it's only natural that someone takes care of it right? Let's get ourselves dressed and head to the guild."

"Yessy!"

This was the agenda for the day. Go to the guild, accept the request, and go into the Gleam Eyes' Lair and defeat it. It sounded like a task on a to-do list that could be accomplished by anyone, but like with many things this was far easier said than done, and one of the trio didn't seem to share the enthusiasm.

"Pause for a second. You're planning on taking down that monster?"

"Hm? That's right."

IF replied, turning her head back to the only male in the room.

"The giant blue demon with the huge sword?"

"That's the one."

"...That took out five people in one go."

Tsukamoto's lips seemed somewhat pale as he spoke.

"What, don't tell me you're scared."

"Me, scared? No way! It's gonna take way more than some big blue giant to make me crap myself!"

Nope, he was totally scared, or at the very least, nervous about encountering this creature. These two girls don't seem to be nervous in the slightest and is anything, was even looking forward to it. As the sole male present with, he had to at least try to display a similar level of calmness and play it cool.

"Are you sure, Shizu-kun? You're still recovering from the Mr. Monster from yesterday..."

"Oh that? Don't worry, I'm fine now, really. In fact, I bet I can take on a hundred of those things right now!"

"Hm, I'm not so sure about that desu..." the nurse said so with a forced smile.

"Out of curiosity Compa, how well can Shizu fight?" Asked IF.

"Well... how can I put this... a total amateur?"

Upon hearing this, Shizuki somehow almost tripped and fell, despite not moving from his spot in front of the sofa.

"Oi, I'm not that bad! I might be rusty but I'm pretty adept with a sword! Well, wooden one anyways."

"But you got beaten up by mean people in your world.."

"I didn't have a weapon back then. If I had my wooden sword with me, I would've sandbagged those guys to the moon and back!"

"You couldn't do much against Mr. Monster yesterday either desu."

"..."

He really couldn't say much about that. There was no way he could be prepared against something like that in the situation he was in.

But still...

"T-That was just me having an off day! I could've totally busted him up if I put my mind to it. Besides, look at what I did to those Dogoos! That's gotta count for something right?"

"But anyone can beat a dogoo. They're basically cannon fodder desu..."

"Oof..."

The youth never really had much pride to begin with, but whatever semblance of it he had left was slowly being shredded away.

"Okay, break it up you two."

The brunette chimed in, clapping her hands in place of ringing a bell to interrupt the pair's squabble.

"Shizu, you're welcome to join us if you want, though just to be on the safe side, don't take any unnecessary risks and jump into the fighting if you can help it. Just leave the fighting to me and Compa."

"W-Well, I guess that's manageable for me..."

Tsukamoto crossed his arms and looked off to the side, pouting like a kid who got scolded by his mother.

Compa couldn't help but chuckle. The youth's current behavior was beginning to remind her of a certain twin-tailed CPU.

"Great. Now that that's all said and done, let's get ourselves together and head straight out."

※※※※※

* * *

It had been no less than 12 minutes that the trio had changed out of their sleepwear and into their regular clothes, and got themselves ready for their outing.

The guild building was a bit deeper in the city so they had to walk a bit of ways away from their neighborhood. As they walked, Shizuki looked around as he took in his surroundings. The city of Leanbox was indeed impressive, especially in the eyes of one who has never been to large population centers like this. The city looked like something one would find out of a science fiction movie in terms of esthetic and the roads were as smooth as a fresh sheet of paper.

With how Leanbox looked, he was curious to see what the other nations and their cities looked like.

They eventually reached their destination. Upon entering the building, the three were greeted to a room that looked more like what could only be described as a receptionist area with workers, standing behind the desks, managing requests for people to take.

Not all the requests dealt with monster exterminations. There was a clear diversity when it came to tasks requested. These often ranged from rescuing a cat from a tree (as cliche as this was, it still happened occasionally), finding lost children and reuniting them with their parents, and even cleaning up local areas like the public park.

Essentially, it was community service.

"So this is the guild..."

Tsukamoto looked around the room. To him, the place looked less like a receptionist hall and more like a room in some highly advanced facility he'd expect from an organization like G.H.Q.

"Come to think of it, what exactly IS the Guild? Is it some kind of monster hunting organization?"

"No, the guild isn't for just hunting monster quests. Sometimes people ask for materials or items they want found."

Explained IF while they walked up to a desk.

"And sometimes, people ask to find missing pets or people desu."

"Ah, I think I get it now. So it's basically service to the community right?"

"Mhm! And the guild doesn't just work in Leanbox."

IF nodded. "The Guild has branches in Planeptune, Lowee and Lastation too."

Once the Trio made it over to the desk, a voice suddenly spoke to them.

"My, my, what an unexpected surprise."

They turned their heads to the source of the unexpected voice. Standing there, accompanied by seven well-built males was a slim woman with purple eyes,deep, glossy, flame-red hair kept in wild curls, a flock of which covers her right eye, with lips of the same colour. She wore black armour that shone like enamel while sporting an earring on her left ear. A slim, cross-shaped spear was also seen strapped on her back.

"Oh, it's you Rosalia. What brings you here?"

IF responded in a somewhat annoyed tone.

"What am I doing here you ask? I should ask the same of you. What's a little girl like you doing here? Don't tell me you plan on taking an extermination request?"

The woman's obvious mocking tone was already beginning to grate on the brunette's nerves, but she refused to let it show.

Instead, she simply smiled.

"Of course I am. In fact, I plan on taking the Gleam Eyes request."

The woman's male cohorts seemed to look at each other with bewilderment before suddenly bursting into laughter.

"Hahahahaha! You serious man?"

"You're either crazy or got big guts to think you could pull that off!"

"You kids should just stick to finding lost pets or something."

"..."

Shizuki frowned. The guys before them were beginning to remind him of the delinquents that chased him all over the neighborhood and physically assaulted him.

"Oh my, that's quite the joke Wind Walker. I hope you know that no one has been able to leave without suffering considerable casualties."

"Which is why we plan to put it down before more idiots go off getting themselves killed."

"Haha! I do hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I seriously doubt you can scratch the beast, much less slay it. Not to mention your party is greatly lacking in a myriad of areas."

The woman named "Rosalia" leered her eyes over to Compa and Shizuki, clearly regarding them as inferior in her view.

The youth's eyes narrowed upon meeting the woman's gaze.

 _("T-This bitch...")_

"Oh really? I think we'll be able to prove you wrong. Why don't you join us and we'll show you how to properly slay a monster."

"You talk big, wind walker. It just so happens that I was already planning to accept the request."

"That settles it then. We'll all form a giant party and beat the monster together. After the job's done, we can split the reward. Deal?"

Logically speaking, this was reasonable course of action. They were facing a monster that could kill five people in a single strike, which was an already impressive feat for a monster to accomplish. If they had any hopes of defeating the monster, or even surviving, they needed to have considerable numbers on their side.

"Hmph, so be it. I graciously accept this alliance. But do make sure to ask Rosalia-sama for help if things get too hot for you~"

The haughty woman said so in a mocking tone before laughing, her cohorts laughing with her as they turned away and headed for the exit. It was likely that they had planned to waiting outside for IF to accept the request. Tensions would fly if they remained in the room together any longer and it was probably best to limit their interactions as much as possible.

After they left, IF let out an audible sigh and grumbled.

"I swear that woman pisses me off... Seriously, what's with her high and mighty attitude?!"

"Um, if you don't like her, why did you want to team up with her Iffy?" Asked Compa.

"Because, as much as I hate to admit it, Rosalia's a pretty decent fighter. Plus, the more people we have on our side the better our chances are."

"That sounds good and all, but something tells me those guys can't be trusted. Are you sure about working with them?"

Tsukamoto had an alarm beeping inside of him. Aside from their haughty demeanor, there was something else about them, particularly Rosalia herself that made Shizuki nervous, but he couldn't exactly put his finger on it.

"It's fine. If anything, Rosalia's a bit competitive and overestimates herself. The most she could do is try to get the kill before anyone else can. Don't worry, if anything does happen, I'll be sure to protect you two."

The brown haired girl gave them a reassuring smile, like a reliable sister would give her siblings.

"That's right desu! As log as Iffy's with us, we'll be fine! What could possibly go wro──mphh?!"

Before the pink-haired nurse could complete her sentence, Shizuki wasted no time placing his hand over her mouth to prevent her from speaking.

"Gah, don't say that! That's pretty much asking for bad luck y'know!"

"Mmphmph..."

※

"What now, Rosalia-sama? The brat ended up suggesting the alliance before you even could. Is she up to something?"

One of the male cohorts spoke with uncertainty.

"It's fine dear, as far as I can tell, she suspects nothing and we will give her no reason to. We will stick to the plan as intended. Besides..."

A grin formed on the woman's features, as if tearing her face in half.

"The wind walker's demise is just the footnote of our objective."

※※※※※

* * *

After accepting the request and getting properly set for the battle, the two parties had set off to the Gleam Eye's dungeon.

Rosalia's party was **«Titan's Hand»**. There were roughly eight members including Rosalia herself and was equipped with state of the art weapons that included:

A spear crafted from special ore.

Two falchions.

A halberd.

An Energy Longsword of unknown origin.

Two AK-47's and a grenade.

A massive Gatling gun.

A pair of gauntlets of questionable origin.

And a Shotgun.

IF's party had no name and consisted of three. Their weapons were:

An unknown number of Katars and daggers.

A large syringe.

And a wooden training sword.

The lair was located on the outskirts of town as with most lairs and their inhabitants. They traveled into a wide cave that led them to a massive cavern underground. Rosalia and her party took the lead while IF, Compa and Shizuki followed behind.

Like with the other cave, this one was dimly lit by blue lights, only it was much wider, with the ceiling being no less than 36 feet high as they entered deeper.

They all walked past a growing number of human and animal remains that had been there ranging from 1 day ago, to 2 and a half weeks ago.

Out of everyone else there, Compa and Shizuki were the only ones visibly disturbed by the rotting corpses around them.

IF was also disturbed by this as well, but she chose to hide it mostly to try and remain calm for the inevitable confrontation and partly because Rosalia would never let her hear the end of it if they did survive.

 _("T-This feels like we're walking down to the gates of hell.")_

The youth felt chills run through his body, causing him to grip his weapon with his already sweaty palms.

 _("What the heck am I doing here? Out of everyone here, I'm the only one here that doesn't have any combat experience. Why did I say all of that crap back there...")_

Every one around him was well equipped and knew what they were doing. They were prepared to risk their lives and fight some inhuman thing.

Him being there was like an amateur wrestler who just signed up for training preparing to get in the ring with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson with a full audience watching. He felt completely out of his league.

 _("I shouldn't have come here. We haven't even fought the thing and it's already becoming too much for me.")_

Tsukamoto was beginning to regret his earlier statements not being scared, and as they continued their descent, he was starting to question if he should remain in Gamindustri when it was all said and done. Once again, he felt like the odd one out, but for different reasons.

"Eh?"

He felt a warm hand suddenly grasp his own, taking him out of his nervous thoughts.

"C-Compa-san?"

A certain pink-haired nurse gave him a warm smile as an attempt to calm him down.

"Everything's going to be alright, Shizu-kun. Have faith in us!"

"A...Ah."

His face became a light red color all of a sudden. It was obviously due to the fact that this was the first time a girl his age had held his hand for any reason. He wanted to say something along the lines of "Alright" or "Thanks" but his nervousness wouldn't allow him to speak either one of those words, resulting in an uncertain noise escaping his lips followed by a nod.

And though he was still nervous, he did feel somewhat calmer.

Two more minutes had passed and the party had finally reached their destination. Before them was a steel door that stood at least twenty-four feet in height, an unpleasant smell was sensed coming through the cracks.

"So, this is the lair of the Gleam Eyes, eh?" IF remarked as she stared up the massive doors that would lead into the zone of danger. "At least it's consistent with the info that was given."

"What's the matter, Wind Walker? Don't tell me you are frightened by a mere door~."

"Dream on, the only thing I was scared of is the possibility of this thing not being as tough as everyone made it out to be."

IF's comment made the haughty woman smirk.

"Oh? If you really feel that way, bu all means~"

Rosalia stepped off to the side, pretty much welcoming her to go in first.

"How generous of you. We'll be happy to. Though I thought you were always the type to jump in headfirst."

"Hah, I just want you to show me how to, "properly slay a monster" and so forth~. But like I said, do ask for help if it's too much for you. I'd be glad to teach you a thing or two as well~"

"Just sit and watch, you'll be eating those words soon."

The brunette snorted and pressed on, with Shizuki and Compa following behind, still holding hands.

Surprisingly with little effort, IF pushes the huge doors open, and they are greeted to a wide dark room with a tall structure that looked like a chair or throne up ahead, but because of the poor lighting, they could not tell if there was anything actually sitting there. On the walls were crystal-like growths that gave off an azure dim light gave the room some visibility.

"Wow..."

As far as rooms went, this was the biggest he's ever seen, and visually, it was impressive. But at the same time, the place filled Tsukamoto with dread as the scent of blood reached his nose.

He and the girls walked up ahead to the throne-like structure shrouded in darkness, but something caused Shizuki to stop.

"?!"

He felt a tingling sensation in the back of his head that instinctively caused him to turn around.

The doors were beginning to close. Without thinking, Shizuki ran up to the doors that were closing on them.

"O-Oi!"

The sudden action caused the two girls to look at him and do the same upon seeing the entrance close. But they was too late. By the time he made it to the doors, they were already sealed shut.

"Hey! Open up this door!"

The youth banged his fists on the steel doors in a futile attempt to get the people on the other side's attention.

"What the hell?!"

IF did the same. On the other end, a bunch of laughter could be heard.

"Oh my, I'm terribly sorry, the doors just closed on their own and we couldn't stop it~"

"You bitch! Open this door right now!"

The brown haired girl growled in anger as she repeatedly pounded on the door with the other two. Despite their pounding and cries, Rosalia and her merry men continued to laugh.

"I'm afraid you three kids are on your own for the moment~ But don't worry, we will go get help. So just be patient and this will be over hahahahahaha~!"

The haughty woman and her team laughed, and laughed and laughed, until the laughter receded and could no longer be heard.

"Let us out desuu!"

In a fit of anger, IF punched the massive door with her fist, causing a slight dent on its surface.

"Ugh, those assholes..! When we get out of here, there's going to be hell to pay!"

"Rosalia wouldn't do anything she says." Shizuki muttered sarcastically. "She would be a big help she says. I don't want to be the guy that said, "I told you so", but──"

"Can it, Shizu!"

IF snapped, causing the youth to flinch.

"I'm just saying, I've had a bad feeling about her ever since she first appeared. I thought since you knew her, you knew what to watch out for!"

"I've only known her for two months, and in all the times I ran into her, she was a battle obsessed nut that sees me as a rival in monster killing! I never thought she would pull this crap though..."

She took a deep breath and sighed, letting her anger wash over for the moment, returning to her usual calm and collected demeanor.

"Alright, this is no time for us to be getting angry. We won't be getting out of here until we beat that monster. Compa, you'll be supporting me from behind with healing."

"Yessy!" The addressed nodded with determination.

"Shizu, remember what I told you earlier and don't jump in the fight if you can help it. Try to make sure Compa isn't hurt while I fight the creature head on."

"G-Got it!"

Tsukamoto gave his own nod and readied his weapon.

And as if to signify the tart of the battle, the crystals on the wall suddenly brightened significantly, making the area far more visible. That was when they saw it.

"..."

A towering figure was seen, sitting in the throne like structure. Its skin was a dark blue color and its eyes matched the same color of the room it resided in.

Demon.

That was certainly the first thing that came to mind when their eyes laid upon it. Its mere presence was enough to freeze them in place momentarily.

"Holy... shit..."

Shizuki's heart sank deep into its stomach upon meeting the creature's gaze. He imagined it to be some terrifying atrocity, but seeing it in person and up close too──that was something else entirely.

He wanted to run.

He wanted to scream.

He wanted to throw up because the amount of fear he was feeling was strong enough to make him queasy. Never before in his life did he feel this much dread.

But he knew that if he made any sudden movements, he would die.

And so he could do nothing but stand there, frozen like a statue before the Gleam Eyes.

A low rumble escaped the creature's mouth as it stood from its throne, brandishing a gargantuan Zambato-style sword.

"Here it comes..!"

Two grey short sword-like weapons materialized in IF's hands. They appeared to be a few inches longer than the ones she had used the day prior, but given the nature of the enemy she was facing, these blades would do better in this fight.

"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅――!"

Letting out a sound so inhuman, it could barely be called a roar, the blue demon kicked itself off the ground and leaped high into the air, before performing some kind of front flip, tumbling towards the ground like an avalanche.

"?!"

The sudden action had caught everyone by surprise, but only for a second.

Wasting no time, the trio scattered from their current spots just before the creature landed, slamming its massive sword into the earth, creating a powerful shock wave that knocked everyone back.

While Tsukamoto and the pink haired girl fell to the ground as a result from the attack, IF jumped off the ground just in time,

and twisted her body around, throwing the blades she took out at the monster.

Like bullets, the blades flew with considerable speed, effectively striking the demon in its back and exploded.

Which what should have happened.

But instead, the creature quickly responded and raised its massive sword, deflecting the daggers that came at it like guided missiles.

"?!"

Its sights were set on her. It did not seem to take long for the Gleam Eyes to realize that IF was the biggest threat among the three humans there.

Noting that her initial attack did nothing, she landed back on the ground and began to run, circling the beast in an attempt to find any openings in its defense.

This was not an enemy she could effectively face in close quarters currently. If her blades were to clash with that huge zambato while in an unfavorable position, she would be finished.

Therefore, she had to attack from a far to increase her chances of winning.

Kicking off the ground, she took to the air once more. Two more blades had appeared in her hands and were both thrown at the creature and were aimed for its chest and temple.

"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅――!"

A loud sound was heard. The demon swung its weapon again and knocked aside the blade that was coming for its head, but the other one had successfully hit its intended target and exploded seconds later, causing it to stumble back.

Leaping back, she landed on a wall and propelled herself off of it, launching herself forward at the Gleam eyes.

It quickly recovered itself and raised its blade to intercept her. However, instead of cutting her down, the strike was blocked by two blades crossed together.

"...!"

Sparks flew. Before she knew it, she was knocked back down to the ground with great force, causing her to slide across the ground on her feet.

She had no time to take a breather. By the time she looked up, the blue giant was already on top of her, its massive sword poised to strike.

She moved. She kicked off the ground and moves to the right as the sword slammed into the space where she once stood with tremendous force.

Coming to a stop, the blades she wielded began to give off a white-blue glow as she launched them at her target. two more appeared seconds later and they too were thrown.

The process of manifesting blades, imbuing them with power and then throwing them were repeated for at least six more times. Whenever one or two blades were intercepted, two more would be on its way.

After deflecting most of the short swords coming its way, one of them successfully lodged its way between its eyes and exploded within seconds.

This would not be enough to end it. Along with the info she received, the Gleam eyes was said to have a healing factor that allowed it to recover from wounds. Nothing short of decapitation or wounding it badly enough for the regeneration to be ineffective was enough to kill it apparent.

But both were far easier said than done.

With the ruler of the battlefield temporarily stunned the girl in the blue coat took out a small blue and glowing cylindrical object and threw it underneath the giant.

Soon afterwards, blue runic markings were etched into the ground taking on the form of a glowing magic circle.

And in that instant―――

 **"―――La Delphinus!"**

A torrent of light shot forth from the glowing circle, engulfing the blue demon as it let out a noise that seemed to be a cry of agony.

The light was so powerful, everyone present had to shield their eyes or look away.

Soon enough, the light faded and the lair was filled with smoke.

"D-Did you get it?"

A certain blue haired male muttered out as he uncovered his eyes upon the light dimming. Tsukamoto had never seen a battle like this unfold before, at least not in person. It provided a very surreal experience for him.

It was like watching a very tense moment in a movie theater where the hero is on the verge of dying at the hands of the villain or monster. The only difference was, instead of being at the edge of his seat in a theater, he was in the scene of said film himself, watching the fight unfold while he stood frozen in place.

As much as he wanted it to be over, the brown haired girl's next words, followed by the next moments, shattered that illusion.

"No, it's not over yet."

The smoke cleared. The tall blue devil stood, with multiple wounds on its body, including a bloody hole in its head, all of which were slowly, but surely regenerating.

Killing intent could be felt as its red eyes glared at IF as if it were trying to pierce her soul with thousands of swords.

"Compa, I'm going to use it, so get ready."

"Y-Yessy!"

A small grin formed on the brown haired girl's face as she stared at the creature. Once it looked like it was preparing to attack, she took out two black semi-automatic pistols and began to open fire.

"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅――!"

The demon shielded itself with its arms and sword as bullets mercilessly made contact, exploding upon impact.

For a brief moment the Gleam Eyes could not advance. The hailstorm of explosive bullets prevented its already battered body from moving out of its position and mercilessly slaughter the intruders.

More wounds were appearing over the ones that had already regenerated, and those that were trying to heal were already being opened by more explosive rounds.

The rounds stopped.

She was out. but this was expected, otherwise she would not utilize them in the manner she did if she could help it. After she ran out of bullets, she quickly tossed aside her weapons and shouted,

"Now!"

What replaced her two hand guns were pair of dull grey blades much like the ones she had been using before, however, they were several inches longer to the point where they could be technically called long swords.

As she assumed a combat stance, her person was surrounded by a light green aura that looked more like a flame than anything else. At the same time the two dull blades were surrounded in flames too, this time orange colored.

"..!"

Compa, who had not joined in the battle up until this point had closed her eyes and clasped both of her hands together as a soft pink light radiated from her body. It was something similar to what IF was using, but lacked the intensity the green flames gave off.

"W-What the?"

Shizuki watched as he saw his two comrades display their hidden power. Up til this point, he was under the impression that the humans in this world were stronger than the ones back in his, but he was not expecting for them to utilize any special abilities.

 _("Don't tell me... they're espers too?")_

It was a bit of a stretch but it was not completely implausible to think that human beings in another world suffered similar genetic abnormalities found in Espers back on earth. After everything he saw so far, he wouldn't be surprised if there was a secret cabal of Magi controlling the world from the shadows.

Without warning, the girl in the green flames vanished, leaving a small crater where she once stood.

In actuality, she did not really vanish. Instead, her speed had increased to the point where her movements could not be followed by normal eyes.

The Demon moved. The large zambato was raised and slammed into the asphalt with tremendous force.

But instead of hitting the surface, it landed on a pair of flame swords.

And so the dance began.

With the huge blade pushed away, the two smaller one moved in to cut their target, but were once again intercepted by the zambato once more.

Blades clashed again and again, causing sparks fly like rain.

IF was keeping up with the demon. She was clashing blades with it and keeping up.

It wasn't because she had switched to using longer weapons, or even wounding the monster as much as she did before.

It was because of her innate ability, **«Level Accel»**.

 **«Level Accel»** was an ability that she appeared to be born with and had only discovered while training one day. Basically, it allowed her to increase her physical parameters beyond their current level, effectively making her superhuman.

However, the longer she used it, her body would become strained, slowly tearing her apart.

Eventually, her body would be destroyed and she would die.

This was where Compa's ability came in, **«Heaven's Touch»**.

«Heaven's Touch» granted her the ability to heal the wounds of others around her. It was quite effective in regenerating cuts or wounds that would slow down party members in fights.

But like **«Level Accel»** , **«Heaven's Touch»** also strained its user whenever she utilizes it for too long.

But when both abilities are paired together, it creates a formidable force.

With **«Heaven's Touch»** constantly regenerating her body from the effects of **«Level Accel»** , she can keep up..!

"Haaa...!"

The massive sword came down to obliterate its target, only for it to crush the ground where they once stood.

The girl in the green flames got behind the creature and slashed it. Like a bullet ricocheting off of the walls and floor of an unbreakable metallic room, IF constantly propelled herself off of the ground and walls, cutting the beast from its blind spots each time.

She jumped forward, breaking apart the ground as she did, and a loud clash echoed once again as her fiery blades clashed with the giant's.

After a few more clashes, she evaded the zambato coming down to end her by stepping to the side. She sped off out of its range and kicked off the ground, running up the walls until she propelled her self to the ceiling. Afterwards, she kicked off of that and fell down towards the demon like a fiery comet falling from the heavens.

Their swords clashed once more, this time, causing the ground beneath the Gleam Eyes to crack a bit while creating a shock wave that almost knocked the sole male there off his feet.

"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅――!"

"Haaaaaa...!"

The hulking beast knocked her aside, but she landed on her feet with no problem.

They stared at each other for what seemed like forever. And then, the monster glanced beyond his opponent.

It knew and understood what was happening. As long as that girl continues to support the enemy, it will not be able to advance.

Deviating from its attack pattern, a tail-like appendage, attached to its rear which resembled a snake had suddenly risen and let out a horrific screech that caused IF to stop and cover her ears.

"..!"

And in that moment, it raised its blade...

And threw it like a child throwing its toy at something. The blade wasn't going for his opponent. It was aiming for those that supported her.

Namely...

"Compa-san!"

Out of reflex, Tsukamoto ran for the girl and tackled her out of the path of the thrown blade, narrowly missing it and rolling across the ground with her in his arms.

"Ahh..."

Shizuki looked back up. The creature moved again, but had went back to focusing on IF again.

By the time she realized it, the creature was right on top of her, and a blue fist slammed into her body, sending her crashing into a wall.

"Gaah...!"

"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅――!"

The blue demon let out a fierce roar as it pounded its chest like a gorilla.

 _("This isn't good... that thing isn't a mindless boss-type monster like I thought!")_

The blue haired youth took a glance over at IF who was slowly standing up, then one at Compa who was sitting up, a bit disoriented from the tumble earlier.

 _("Damn it! At this rate we're going to be finished...!")_

He pounded the ground and began to lament the situation he was in.

The two girls with him had the power to fight monsters. They each had weapons and abilities that could oppose a tremendous force like that.

But him? All he had was a healing factor and a wooden sword.

"Why am I always the odd one out..?! Because I was abnormal among ordinary people, I was always singled out... now that I'm in a world where people can use abilities without fear, I can't do anything to help at all! All I have is this useless healing power and these damn eyes!"

It was then that he realized something.

"Wait a minute... my eyes..."

Yes. Aside from his own regenerative abilities, he had a second one.

It was a power he deemed so awful, he would never use it at all.

In fact, no one else, save for himself and his guardian knows about it.

"I know I said I would never use it again, but who said anything about not using it on a demon?"

He stood. His decision was already made. He would worry about the details and the moral ramifications of it later. All that mattered was him and his friends leaving that place alive.

"..."

The Gleam eyes, glanced over at them. For some reason, it was not attacking them.

It almost seemed like it was waiting. Waiting to see what the puny trespassers would do next.

"Ai-san, could you come over here? I think I have an idea."

The addressed simply looked at him for a brief second before nodding and running over to them, holding her side.

"What is it, Shizu?"

"I think I can kill that thing, but I need your help. I need you to try to distract it and restrain it somehow while I get up close. Can you do that?"

"Sure.. I can do that. But how are you going to-"

"Ah I'll explain that later. For now, let's just focus on getting out of here alive."

Without any further questions, IF simply nodded and turned to face the demon once more.

The Gleam eyes stared back once more, letting out a low growl. If one didn't know any better, they would think that the creature was grinning.

"U-Um, what about me Shizu-kun? I want to help too..!"

A certain pink haired girl stood up and gave a determined look.

Tsukamoto looked back at her and smiled.

"Just stay back and support us from behind. We need you to keep us alive after all."

"Y-Yessy!"

Shizuki took a deep breath and closed his eyes to calm his nerves. Despite the courage he was giving off, he was still very much scared. In fact he was kind of impressed with himself for once for how long he kept himself together.

After a brief pause, he flipped a switch, and he opened his eyes.

What were once dull brown orbs were now replaced by a pair of golden orbs with an intricate pattern and a pure white dot in the center of his irises.

The world had not changed upon opening them. The only thing that changed was the blue demon now had a glowing red sphere sitting in its chest.

Looking at it made him feel sick. It made him feel sick because he knew exactly what it was.

But he had to persevere. He had to resist the urge to shut those "eyes" if he wanted to get himself and the girls out of this alive.

"Go!"

On Shizuki's command, IF brandished her flame blades and utilized «Level Accel» once more.

Compa activated «Heaven's Touch», healing the brunnette's wounds from earlier as well as to manage the strain caused by «Level Accel».

"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅――!"

The Gleam eyes, realized that the battle would start again. It charged forward, no sword in hand and bellowed.

IF responded and dashed forward and swung her blades at the monster's legs, causing it to stumble and fall to its knees. Seconds later she took out a silver disc object and threw it under neath the creature. The disc appeared to be some kind of device that manipulated gravity as it appeared that the disc was pulling the Gleam eyes toward it, not allowing it to stand.

It opened its mouth and shot some kind of purple energy at IF, who managed to avoid it.

This was his chance.

Shizuki gripped his wooden sword as hard as he could and ran.

He ran toward the beast, steeling his nerves as much as they told him not to do this.

Another disc was placed on the ground. This one would serve as a trampoline to jump on, since Shizuki was not trained to jump such distances.

Upon stepping on the device, he felt his body propel itself off the ground until he was several feet high off the ground.

"Haaaaaaaaa!"

He could see it. The red Sphere was now on its back. Ultimately, it did not matter where Tsukamoto was, the "sphere" could be seen from any angle.

With a powerful shout, Tsukamoto Shizuki brought down his sword and struck the thing on the demon's back.

It must have felt like there was nothing there at all, because the wooden sword sliced straight through the "sphere" like a hot knife through butter.

At that moment, the creature stopped moving.

The "sphere" had begun to crack. It cracked and cracked and cracked, until it was no more.

Then, the creature that had once been the Gleam Eyes had begun to lose color and slowly disintegrate into dust. With in the next 12 seconds, the Blue Demon that had once terrorized civilians of Leanbox that entered its domain had ceased to exist.

"..."

"..."

Both IF and Compa had both become speechless at the phenomenon that had taken place.

Up until now, they were on the ropes, and every attack the domain owner took had little to no affect, and yet, the boy's wooden sword which would normally do nothing against a monster like that, had taken it down in one strike.

Only one question remained in their heads at this point.

What are you?

※※※※※

* * *

Upon the defeat of the Gleam Eyes, the lair's massive doors were finally able to be opened again, finally allowing freedom once more.

The Trio had left that place, walking past the bodies that were chopped and smashed by the creature that had lived there before tossing them out. As expected, Rosalia and her stooges were no where to be found, as they were very likely intending to leave them in there to die.

By the time they had reached the city it was late after noon and the sun was nearing the stage of beginning to set. They stopped at a park in Leanbox City and sat on one of the benches to rest for a bit before returning home.

After they had all displayed their hidden powers in today's fight, they each had questions for each other, regarding the abilities, so they asked and answered accordingly.

The girls explained to Shizuki what their powers were as far as they understood, and the circumstances of them discovering it such as A rigorous training session and healing a cat that was wounded.

He so far understood them and had no issue.

However...

His display of power was the most unexpected of it all.

He was afraid that this would happen eventually and knew well enough that lying or making up an excuse would do no good.

So, he told them everything.

He told them about his regeneration ability, about how he discovered it, and what he knew about Espers.

And most importantly, the ability he never wanted to use again.

"...that's how it is. My eyes can somehow see the souls of any living creature I look at. And not only that, I can touch them too... and break them."

Shizuki shuddered as he recalled the sensation of touching one of the "spheres". To him, the sensation felt just about as dirty as groping a person without permission.

"As if people see me as a freak enough with just the regeneration... I have these horrible eyes that not just kills things, but destroys their core existence."

"Hm, and you're not one of these 'Espers'?" IF asked as she listened to his story from the beginning.

"No," he shook his head and continued. "Espers are born with this anomaly in their DNA called the ESP Gene. That's what gives them their abilities... but some time after I discovered this power, I got tested for the Gene, but it came back negative."

The youth let out a heavy sigh and placed his hands over his face, wanting to hide away from everything.

"I'm an anomaly... a freak among freaks. If I'm not a human, and I'm not an Esper... then what the hell am I...?"

However...

"E-Eh..?"

He felt a pair of arms, gently embrace his head, while still covering his face with his hands.

"Mm, you're not a freak Shizu-kun..."

"But... But, I'm clearly not normal. I just destroyed something's very existence, a living breathing thing... so how..?"

"It doesn't matter if you're normal or not... what matters is that you're our friend and that you saved us."

The girl with pink hair said so while gently stroking his head.

"She's right, Shizu." Started IF, "Honestly, you should have some faith in us. We're not like the jerks who beat you up just because you were different. So what if you have a weird ability? If anything I think it makes you more unique."

"Yes! Also, how could we just abandon after hearing a story like that..?"

Shizuki's eyes had widened upon hearing that. He was sure that they would run away or look at him in disgust upon learning about his abilities. It happened to him before, and he couldn't see why that would change.

So he was surprised that these two girls basically said that his power and differences were irrelevant and that they saw him the same as they did before they ever found out about his anomalous abilities.

"Are you sure..? Are you sure you're okay hanging around a guy with freaky eyes, or a body that repairs itself?"

"I'll reiterate,"

The girl with brown hair stated, looking into Tsukamoto's eyes.

"We don't care that you can see souls and destroy them or heal your self from wounds. You saved us back there and that's what matters."

"That's right desu! After all, we're a party right? A party sticks together no matter what!"

"I..."

The words had escaped him once he heard that. He had waited for quite a long time to hear those words from anyone.

He felt relieved.

Relieved that he had finally met people who didn't care about his mysterious nature, that he was different.

For the first time in ages he had truly felt as if he found a place where he belonged.

Even though he nearly died twice in this world, and even though he only knew the girls for at best a day and a half, none of that mattered.

He found a place where he felt welcomed, and had met people who accepted him.

If he were the type that gets overly emotional in moments like this, he would be in tears right now.

But instead, he smiled.

He smiled, and replied with two simple words.

"...Thank you."

※※※※※

* * *

About six hundred meters on the roof of an office building stood a man dressed in black. He was young, likely around the age of 17 or 18, had long dark hair that was tied into a ponytail, long enough to reach down his back. The male's dark clothing consisted of a black coat with a golden trim, a white shirt with a black tie, and a pair of black trousers and shoes.

The most notable accessory was the sheathed Katana tied to his waist.

Ever since he arrived, this individual had been monitoring the "visitor" since Day Three of their initial appearance.

His task was simple: Observe and do not interfere.

No matter how much peril they appeared to be in, he was not allowed to intervene. Not unless the visitor and his companions were faced by a certain threat—one that the organizations he worked for was sent to deal with.

He actually could not believe the fact that the visitor and his companions had been thrown into perilous situations two days in a row, both taking place in caves where he had difficulty observing them.

Still, he was somewhat relieved that they has managed to survive an ordeal that had otherwise sealed their fates.

Removing the binoculars from his dark eyes, he took out a small communication device and pressed it against his ear.

"It's me. It would seem that the subject survived another bout with certain death."

The man in black spoke in a cool voice, devoid of any discernible emotion.

"However... it appears that he somehow killed the creature that was residing in that cave, wielding a dull sword made of wood no less."

"Are you certain?"

Said the voice of a woman on the other end. Her voice was as cool and emotionless as the young man speaking with her.

"My familiar witnessed the entire event. Once that weapon some how phased through that behemoth's skin, it crumbled into nothingness."

"I see. Then he must have activated some kind of ability related to the object of interest."

"If this item is dangerous to the point of allowing one to terminate living creatures in such a manner, then all the more reason we should recover it."

"I agree," the woman started. "But we can't act yet. We can't risk exposing ourselves to this world's population, as per our directive. **They** haven't made any moves that would expose themselves or us to the masses, so we shouldn't either."

"Very well. So far it does not appear that the enemy is currently aware of the visitor's presence yet, although I did detect another familiar in that cave with them."

There was a brief pause on the other end before the woman finally replied.

"...I see. I believe it must have belonged to that woman that you said that lured them there."

"If the second familiar belonged to her, then am I to take that I am to remain an observer even should she attempts something?"

Contrary to the tone of his voice, he disliked the idea of standing on the sidelines and watch, as those he would observe was in danger.

But was trained to not let such temptations come over him.

"Yes. Even if the one who ends up threatening the boy is a local, we are sworn by the prime directive to never get involved with events started by locals, pertaining to locals. If he is killed by them, we can just recover the corpse and obtain the item of interest."

"Very well. Then I will continue to monitor him until the enemy makes their move."

"Understood. Please report back to us should any notable events occur. «Sagittarius» out."

After the line went silent, he clicked off the device and put it back into his pocket. His eyes glanced in the general direction where his target was located.

This was indeed a peculiar mission he was assigned to, but in actuality, it was no different from what he normally did back home. Just the setting and circumstances were different.

He would continue his mission.

That was the purpose he had for coming here.

Until the aforementioned enemy made a move, he was not to appear before the boy or his friends.

But after observing the the boy, a question was stuck in his head.

"Curious... how is it that you are able to remain carefree given your situation?"

Episode 2:

Into The Gleam Eyes

* * *

Afterword

And after a whole month and more has passed, Episode 2's finally out. Sorry about the long wait, there have been a myriad of things in my life that has thrown me into a pit of despair and thus was unable to get this out sooner.

That and planning. For those of you who read episode one, welcome back. I'm "Kino-san". Now then, I bet you have some questions regarding the new chapter, so let me try to address the most obvious ones.

 **1\. What about the Lowee segment?**

Yeah, I was originally going to go right ahead and do that, however, I felt as though it would be rushing it if I jumped straight into the Lowee stuff right after the first entry. So I decided to do an original episode with a familiar monster for those of you that''s well versed if not aware of many franchises like me. I was originally going to use a creature from the SCP universe, but I scrapped it because I felt like it would be too violent, so I went with another creature from another series: The Gleam Eyes from Sword Art Online.

Now I know SAO isn't everyone's favorite cup of tea, but I found some of the bosses that appeared in it to be quite interesting in design. The Gleam Eyes was my favorite among them and It was the perfect boss-type enemy to appear in this episode. I also took the liberty of giving it some form of intelligence in order to make it more of a dangerous enemy to contend with. Ultimately, this ended up being the result and I feel more satisfied with it. Hopefully you've enjoyed the first serious fight scene of the series.

As for when I'll do the Lowee mini arc, that one will be the next episode, so don't worry. This one and the previous episode has been spent in caves fighting monsters, so the journy to Lowee will be a nice change of pace and scenery.

 **2\. Who is Rosalia?**

The new character I introduced here. She's a minor antagonist from SAO that only appeared in one episode and never seen again. In Sephira she's a bit different, while she is still an antagonist, she is not exactly who she appears to be, and not in the way that she's not really evil: She is undoubtedly evil but she's not who she appears to be. I won't spoil who or what she is, but she will be a recurring antagonist for the episode's to come.

 **3\. What is with IF and Compa's abilities?**

Ah yes. Since I stated in my bio that Sephira does not take place in the canon universe of the neptunia games or show, my depiction of certain characters will be somewhat different than their canon counterparts, be it making slight changes to their personality or giving them new abilities and skills that they never had in canon. In this case, I gave them signature abilities that I thought suited them and their skill set.

For IF, her power, Level Accel takes on the appearance of a green flame (Green is her signature color and she's been shown using flame attacks in the games so it fits) that enhances her body to superhuman levels. Her speed, strength, durability and stamina are all increased, but it's extremely taxing to use for too long. If she uses it for extended periods of time, it will begin to rip her body apart. Basically, this is IF's version of Kaio-Ken.

As for Compa's ability, Heaven's Touch going with this one was easy given the type of character she is: She's a support character that heals the frontline fighters so it fits perfectly. With it, she can heal people's wounds regardless if she is up close or several feet away. The downside to her ability however is that she can't regenerate wounds fast like Shizuki's power, so fatal wounds are tricky for her. Also, there's a similar down side like IF's where she can only use it for a limited time. She will simply become drained of her energy and become too weak to do anything for a while.

And in case you're wondering, no they are not Espers. They're a similar anomaly like Shizuki where their powers come from something else completely. Don't worry; when the time comes, the true nature of their power will be revealed but not now.

 **4\. What's with Shizuki's powers?**

Seeing as he's been given a power that let's him kill souls with a wooden sword, you may be concerned that he may end up being a Gary Stu. Before you get worried, let me make some excuses...

The Sephira Universe is really a mish-mash of other universes, put into one and either altered, explored differently, or expanded upon, and one of those concepts from other universes is the Mystic eyes concept from the Nasuverse. I was always interested in the concept of having eyes that let you see things that most people can't or perform some special feat like killing someone by cutting the lines of certain death and since Magi and stuff like that will be introduced, I figured to incorporate that in here.

Yes, Shizuki has some kind of mystic eyes that lets him see and interact with the souls of living creatures, but like with Tohno Shiki's MEODP, they are also quite taxing for him to use. Not to mention that he still hates his powers, especially the eyes, so he's against using them. And even after the eventual moment when he accepts them, he will still not use them against anyone or anything unless he absolutely has to. This was seen in the first episode against the cave Dweller, and here, he realized that there was not going to be a miraculous savior like last time to get him out of that situation.

That doesn't mean that he will not use them at all for other things. When using those eyes he can do a little bit more than to "break" souls. I won't divulge into the nature of his eyes or abilities as a whole here though. You'll find out as the story progresses.

Oh, and in case you were curious Shizuki's faceclaim is Shido Itsuka from Date A Live.

And I believe that's it for now. To my readers I thank you for sticking with this story despite the fickleness I've had with it. Oh, and I apologize for that dialogue error in episode 1. I was mixing one draft with another and I neglected to change a line of dialogue after pasting it. I am working on getting someone to Beta my drafts so hopefully you won't see such errors in future episodes.

And now I hope that I can make more episodes in the foreseeable future.

I also hope that it remains in your precious memories and that you can tell your friends about my silly story.

And at last, I sigh and lay my pen down for now.

Please stay tuned for Episode 3: Land of White Serenity and hopefully, the anguish and sorrows caused by my life won't impede in my development of the next episode.

And as a certain youtuber once said, Keep it Rigid.

-Kino-san


	3. Episode 3: Land of White Serenity

_**Episode 3:**_

 _ **Land of White Serenity**_

Mystic Eyes.

They are a phenomena that in someways, is even less understood than the ESP Gene found in 38 % of all humans on earth.

Unlike the ESP gene that grants them use of a secret ability reflected upon their soul, mystic eyes specifically grants the user the ability to interfere with the outer world around them.

There are many types of Mystic Eyes that exist on record, including those of binding, charm and hypnotism, though there are a few rare ones that has never been recorded up until they are initially discovered.

One of the rarer eyes were the Mystic Eyes of Soul Perception.

These eyes would grant the user to visualize and interact with the souls of any living creature before them.

Naturally, these souls cannot be perceived or interacted by normal eyes, but when visualized by the Mystic Eyes of Soul Perception, what is impossible becomes possible.

These "souls" are expressed as certain points on the person/entity's body as glowing spheres of light called Origin Cores.

These Cores represent the very origin of a creature or individual's existence. Fragile little things that come in a variety of colors based on their affinity.

For example, a person with a red affinity is probably passionate, but aggressive, and full of rage.

Some shades of blue would represent kindness and good will, and black could be meant to symbolize a more malicious nature found in other creatures.

As mentioned before, Origin Cores are Fragile and can easily be destroyed or damaged with a simple squeeze, like somewhat tougher balloon or a weak fruit. When this happens, there is only one outcome for the effected creature.

Death.

And not just death, but the total destruction of a creature's existence. Their minds, bodies, and everything else about them will crumble apart and fade as if they never existed to begin with.

And these were the eyes that Tsukamoto Shizuki possessed. Eyes that allowed him to interfere with the existences of other creatures.

It had been roughly two days since the Gleam Eyes incident, and after nearly dying twice two days in a row, Shizuki decided it would be best to have at least one day of R&R before going off to who knows where next and have more deadly encounters. He also didn't want to be put into a situation where he would have to use his eyes again. Even though his companions were fine with them, he still was not, and he would rather walk on hot rocks than to use those things against another living creature again.

"..."

And so to pass the time, he decided to watch television to see what kind of tv shows Gamindustri had to offer. So far, there were a large variety of uninteresting shows not unlike those seen on earth, but a few had stuck out to him. One of them in particular was a reality show where the show host, who resembled a blond pre teen girl, going around harassing certain individuals in an attempt at exposing them for mistreating their child or younger sibling (even though most of them did not seem to have any kind of apparent abuse).

The show was cringy with low production values, but he kept watching it because it was so bad it was entertaining.

 _("It's been about two days since I had that weird dream, and I had it again just last night...")_

He recalled the dream he first had when he woke up for the second time in this world. Originally, he didn't think much of the dream as he could only remember a few details, however, just this morning, he had woke up from the same dream again, this time, remembering events a bit more clearly.

The images two children; a boy and a girl in a snowy town came into his mind.

But even still he could not tell who they were. Still...

 _("Something about that dream feels vaguely familiar. Like I should know something about it, but what?")_

Shizuki looked over the possibilities of this possibly being an event from his childhood, but he rejected the idea. He couldn't remember seeing two children meeting each other in the snow like that, or even doing something similar himself. He liked to think that he had a reliable memory and that he could remember anything accurately from the year 2021 to currently.

But there was also the possibility of this being an event before even that, and that some of his long lost memories from whatever life he had before becoming Tsukamoto Shizuki were starting to return.

"..."

He had been sitting on the couch, deep in thought for nearly 12 minutes now, becoming oblivious to the world around him. As such, he could not hear the voice that had been calling out to him for some time.

"...izu-kun. Shizu-kun..!"

"E-Eh? What?"

Having been pulled out of his musings, Tsukamoto turned to face the source of the voice.

There stood Compa holding a tray of sorts while having a somewhat concerned look on her face.

"You've been spacing out for a while now... is something wrong?"

"Huh? Oh no, I'm just thinking about some stuff. Nothing bad really. What's up?"

"Oh, I just got finished making us some snacks!"

He took a look at the tray she was holding and inspected the contents presented. On the tray were at least 7 glass cups of brown and white substance in them that gave off a sweet aroma.

"This is, pudding?"

"Mhm, I made it myself desu! Wanna try some?"

"Sure, don't mind if I do."

Taking the pudding cup and the small silver spoon on the tray, Shizuki dug into the pastry using the silverware and scooped up a piece before ultimately putting it in his mouth.

"..!"

Upon tasting the snack, his eyes immediately lit up as the contents made its way to his stomach. It had been a while since he had pudding that tasted this good so he couldn't help but to devour the rest with the quick strokes of his spoon. As he ate, he spoke and said,

"Mm..! This is really good!"

"Really? You like it desu?"

Finishing his cup, Tsukamoto earnestly nodded his head up and down before holding a Thumbs up.

"You bet I do! Compa-san's pudding gets a 10/10 from me!"

After hearing that, Compa's smile seemed to shine as brightly as the sun. "I'm glad you like it! I made alot so feel free to have as much as you want!"

"Well if you say so I'll have another one of those."

Shizuki returned a smile to her and went to take another pudding cup for his second helping. In no time he took his spoon once more and began to consume the sweet contents of the cup.

The sound of a key turning in a doorknob followed by the sound of said door opening caught their attention, but showed no alarm whatsoever.

"I'm back."

A certain girl with long brown hair, wearing an oversized blue coat entered the apartment living room, holding a small white bag in her left hand called out in a somewhat tired voice, addressing her presence.

She was IF.

"Welcome back Iffy! Back from doing guild stuff?" Asked Compa.

"Yep, apparently there was a Dogoo infestation on a farmer's property. You wouldn't believe how many of the damn things I had to deal with..."

"Those things again? Wouldn't it be easier to just suck them up in a huge vacuum cleaner thing or something?" Tsukamoto asked, while holding the spoon to his mouth.

"If we did something like that, then all the doggos would just merge into one big one and burst out eventually."

Dogoos were gelatonus creatures after all. It was not outside the realm of possibility that they could simply combine into an even larger Dogoo and escape.

"Huh... I guess that makes sense."

Shizuki simply shrugged and continued to eat his third pudding cup that was halfway empty. IF seemed to notice this and said,

"? Is that pudding?"

"Yessy, I made plenty, so you're welcome to have as many as you want desu!"

The pinkette said, still holding the tray of now six pudding cups with some spoons as well. IF took one of the pudding cups and plopped down on one of the recliner chairs in the living room and began to eat the cup's contents. While her reaction to the taste was more subdued, she nonetheless had a content look on her face about it.

Shizuki was too satisfied as he let out a sigh after finishing his third pudding cup. Then, he remembered something and turned to the girl in blue sitting in the chair next to him.

"Come to think of it, whatever happened to that cash reward from the Gleam Eyes quest?"

"That? I gave most of it to the families of the people that died trying to kill it. They need it more than I ever would anyways. As for the rest of it, I bought this."

IF reached into the small white bag she was carrying and took out a navy blue device and tossed it over to Shizuki.

"Huh?"

Catching the thing with both hands, the male youth began to inspect it. It looked like a simple smartphone like those back on earth.

"What's this?"

"That's the G-Phone X, the newest model. I didn't know if you already had a phone or a similar device from your world or not so I figured I just buy you one instead."

Looking at his newly acquired phone, he saw a circular button just underneath the screen and pressed it, prompting the device to power on.

Truth be told, he did have a phone he used back home, but he never really talked to anyone since he was unable to befriend anyone in his neighborhood. Instead, he used it to listen to music or browse the internet whenever he was out and about.

That phone had been destroyed by the delinquents that chased him and beaten him up that day.

"G-Phone X, eh?"

"If you look in the contacts' app, you'll see I put in mine and Compa's numbers so you can pretty much call us whenever."

Tsukamoto flipped through the apps and eventually found "contacts". Surely enough, both of the girl's numbers were in there.

"I see, this will be handy in case one of us gets stuck in one of those freaking caves again. Thanks Ai-san."

Shizuki smiled and thanked IF before continuing to scroll through the apps on the phone. All of them appeared to be some variations of social media and news platforms such as G-Tube, Zipper, and and several others that were strikingly similar to platforms back on earth. His thumb accidentally hit another app and it caused some kind of map to pop up onscreen.

"?"

The map consisted of a big island, even smaller than Japan that was surrounded by a myriad of smaller islands with the main one having certain points with structures and buildings, indicating that those areas were populated.

The first one was a smaller island with a large building that resembled the large rectangle structure that was seen throughout Leanbox. The second one was north east of leanbox on the mainland, consisting of black buildings and a white satellite dish in the center of it. The third appeared to be another city with white buildings that had a purple hue to them. In the center of it was a tower of some kind that was the same color as the other buildings around it. And up north was an area that caught Shizuki's eye. There was an area that looked like it had frozen over-but there was also a city there with multi-colored buildings and a structure that looked like a castle of some sort.

"Hey Ai-san, what's this?" Asked Shizuki as he pointed to the frozen area of land on the phone.

Wanting to see what he was talking about, both of the girls went over and looked at the image.

"That's Lowee, one of the four nations. It's called the Land of White Serenity mainly because it snows almost all the time, but also because that's where White Heart rules."

"It's also really cold there, so best bundle up desu!"

"Hmm..."

He had a thought. In his dream, it was snowing, the ground, buildings and houses were covered in a white sheet as flakes continued to fall ever so gently. It didn't take long for him to put two and two together after hearing Lowee's description. If there was some correlation between the land of white serenity and the place he saw in his dream, he had to confirm it for himself. But in order to do that...

"Hey, remember when I said I wanted to visit each of the other nations? Well, if we can, do you think we could go to Lowee?"

※※※※※

After getting their things together necessary for the trip, the trio had set off for their destination. If this were a few years ago, they would end up taking the standard public transportation or would simply walk the whole way on foot, both of which would take hours to do.

However, thanks to a transportation system that was recently implemented for all nations, they didn't have to do either.

The transportation system was a giant platform that could hold a total of nearly two dozen people, and was built on the premise of sending people wear they needed to go instantly. The system worked by disassembling the molecules of the items and persons within the platform, and rearrange them at another location──another platform within the other nations. All one had to do was simply select where they wanted to go and they were set. Not to mention it was also surprisingly cheap.

There was only one downside in which there as a ten minute recharging period for the contraptions right after use.

Luckily for them, the two girls and the undocumented blue haired male had no problems as there weren't that many people using them today. The sensation of being taken apart and reconstructed back together felt strange for them, but at the same time, the world had instantly shifted scenery from their point of view.

Upon their arrival at the destination, they automatically felt a blast of cold air hit their bodies, causing them to shiver somewhat.

Needless to say, they were somewhat appropriately dressed for the environment. IF wore what looked like a winterized version of her blue coat with the most noticeable features being that it actually fit her and had a hood attached to it. Compa was wearing a poncho that was a creamy pink color, and Shizuki wore only his school's uniform with the only addition being a long navy blue scarf, wrapped around his neck.

Feeling the brisk cold air brush across his skin, Tsukamoto shivered.

"Brrr..! You weren't kidding when you said it was freezing here! Are you sure you didn't have any extra coats back home!?"

"Sorry, Shizu-kun. If I had an extra coat that could fit you, I would've given it to you already." Compa frowned, shaking her head.

"Hah... so this is Lowee, huh?"

They were in the main city. In contrast of Planeptune and Leanbox's futuristic Metropolis architecture, Lowee had a Fantasy theme with colorful buildings making up its towns and cities and a good variety of candy and sweets shops. Lowee was so far the least advanced technologically, but this somewhat added to its charm and a good portion of its population utilized magic in their every day lives.

Standing on top of a hill that oversaw much of Lowee was an old fashioned white castle surrounded by a few snow covered trees. This was the basilicom of Lowee, where its CPU White Heart resided.

"So um, why are we here again Iffy?"

"I told you earlier, Shizu's been cooped up inside for almost two days since the incident and wanted to explore the rest of gamindustri. We're basically taking him to some of Lowee's hot spots and showing him around." IF explained plainly.

"Oh okay! Maybe we can drop in and visit Blanc while we're at it too!"

Shizuki remembered the name of the goddess and was curious as to what kind of person she was.

"You guys met her before right? What's she like?"

"She's usually calm and collected, but is kind of scary when she's pissed. Just don't mention her breast size and you'll be fine. As a matter of fact, just don't mention the word, Breasts period."

"Haha, I'll definitely keep that in mind."

A sweat drop ran down the back of his head and Shizuki smiled nervously at IF's warning. He found it interesting to note that the goddess was an introvert who also extremely self unconscious about her... assets. He wanted to make a joke about it when he eventually did meet her, but decided against it, as it would likely end with him getting slapped... or in this case, obliterated.

The group made their way into the town and specifically headed to the ever so lively Shopping District, where there were various shops and stores that sold sweets, fried foods, and even various antique items.

As they walked, Tsukamoto continued to look around to get a better sense of his surroundings.

 _("These buildings don't look like the ones that were in the dream... guess I was wrong.")_

He was hoping, at least somewhat, that the place in his dream was somehow related to this land, but they seemed to really be two different places. The structures in the dream looked like the houses back in his hometown, if anything, while the structures of Lowee ranged from having a European atheistic to looking like something taken out of a video game.

The only thing that even remotely the same was the white snow gently falling down.

"Oh! While we're here, do you think we can stop by Gust's place? I wanna see what kinds of medicine she has this time," The pinkette asked, coming to a stop.

"Sure, why not? It's been a while since we've seen her anyway."

"Who's Gust?" Asked Tsukamoto.

"A friend of our's. She goes around the continent gathering items to make potions and other medicines for people, though she can be a bit grubby when it comes to cash..."

"That so huh?" _("Ah, capitalism. Guess you'll always find it no matter what world you're incarnated in.")_

The youth mentally remarked to himself. It was interesting how similar this world was in comparison to earth, from the currency almost the same as Japanese currency, to the drive to get it, all seemed to hit a little close to home.

"Well, I'm fine with wherever we go as long as it's not another dark cave with another crazy monster living inside..."

For the time being, the trio mostly did window shopping, looking into the various shops at what they had. They passed by a bakery shop that had an crystal sculpture of sorts of a woman with long flowing hair, wearing a fancy ballgown holding a golden cup filled with chocolate on display. The crystals was actually a sweet editable substance that could only be made in Lowee. IF and Shizuki didn't seem to notice it, but a certain pink haired nurse certainly did, and went straight over to the window with stars practically in her eyes.

"It's so pretty... Iffy, can we-"

"No." The addressed said bluntly, cutting her off from finishing her question.

"Aww, but look at it! It's soo well made..."

"We're not buying that, Compa. We don't have the funds to buy fancy ice sculptures like that."

"Aww shucks..."

And like a child, depressed over not getting a new toy, Compa pouted sadly and walked away from the shop to join the others. Tsukamoto couldn't help but give a small chuckle upon watching this unfold. It was kind of like watching an older sibling scold her younger sibling for being selfish. For one reason or another, he found interactions like this amusing.

 _("So this is what it's like for people to hang out with their friends, huh? I've got to admit, it's kinda surreal... then again, my life's been about as surreal as a cheap Isekai novel for the past few days.")_

To be frank, he wasn't used to being in such social outings like this. His reputation as a rumored Esper had essentially robbed of such chances in the past, so for him to be laughing amoungst people he considered friends felt very strange to him. He did indeed enjoy his time here for the most part──not counting the life threatening moments, even though it was only a short time, but it was something quite new for him.

And speaking of strange feelings...

"?"

A certain tingling sensation was felt in the back of his head. It was the same sensation he felt when Rosalia and her goons trapped them in that cave.

 _("An attack?! Here?! No, that can't be right... no one's that bold to attack anything in broad daylight with this many people around. Unless they're just plain crazy. Plus, there's no hints of any monsters coming.")_

Shizuki stopped in his tracks and looked around. He felt the sensation warn him of an incoming threat, but he couldn't see anyone or anything suspicious among the crowd that was around him.

 _("This isn't right... where is it? Should I tell the others?")_

He looked ahead again, but he no longer saw the two girls he were traveling with. They were separated by the crowd of pedestrians walking throughout the shopping district.

 _("Crap! I've lost them...")_

With both of his guides somewhere within the crowds, he was now lost. And on top of that, the tingling sensation continued, yet there was no sign of any visible threat.

He turned around one last time, but it was too late. Before he could fully turn around, something hit him so hard, he was knocked right off his feet and his rear fell flat on the pavement surface below.

"Bwaah! Ah, crap that hurt..."

Rubbing his rear from the fall, Shizuki looked up to finally see what hit him. But to his surprise, it was not a monster, a mugger, or some crazy person looking to cause a mass stabbing. Instead...

"Ow! That totally hurt..!"

It was a girl. She appeared to be about 9 or 10 years old, had long light brown hair, blue eyes, and dressed in a pink overcoat with white puffballs, a blue handbag and a ribbon, and a white and pink hat to match with a pink rectangle in the center.

"Nice going you big dofus! Why'd you have to stand there like an idiot and not move?!" The girl in pink shouted at him while rubbing her nose.

"Hey, didn't anyone ever teach you not to run around with so many people around? You ran into me, so technically, you're in the wrong here!"

"Well, next time, react faster and you won't get ran into!"

The two began to glare at each other so hard, that sparks may have well been flying. Normally, Tsukamoto wouldn't be so hostile towards a girl this young for something trivial, but his heart was racing after he believed he was going to get attacked by something, when it turned out to be this. needless to say, he wasn't as calm as he was before with his senses being on alert mode.

But before anything else could be said between them, another voice tentatively spoke up.

"U-Um, Ram?"

There was a second girl, clearly resembling the first, except, her hair was shorter, and while her outfit was the same, the color scheme was a light blue. Reacting to the girl in blue's voice, the one in pink──presumably called Ram, turned to her twin who looked in the distance behind them, then looked in the very same direction she was looking and tensed up a bit.

"Crap! I think she sees us! Let's go!"

'Ram' quickly grabbed Shizuki's hand and started running, pulling him with them.

"W-Wait a second! Why am I being dragged with you?!"

The youth asked, as he was being dragged along.

"She saw you too! That means you're an accomplice now!"

The girl in pink exclaimed, not letting up on her pull.

"A-Accomplice?! Just who are you guys running from?!"

"Run first! Talk later!"

Tsukamoto protested to the sudden turn of events, but to no avail. His words no longer reached the girl's ears as she continued to drag the teen off to who knows where...

※

Meanwhile, somewhere else in the shopping district among the crowds, Compa finally seemed to notice the male's absence and stopped in her tracks.

"Hm? What's the matter Compa?"

"Shizu-kun's not with us... where did he go?"

IF sighed. "Geez, don't tell me he got lost in the crowd... "

"We should find him! He could be lost and scared by now..." Compa frowned a bit, clearly worried about his well being and whereabouts.

"Don't worry, our phones track each other remember? If he uses the GPS feature, he can track our location and find us that way. And if he doesn't then we'll just find him ourselves."

One of the more notable things about G-Phones was the fact that they came with an app that allowed one to track the locations of those in their contacts. It was done so in order to keep track of people who may have gone missing, like in situations like this. Though some people called it a violation of people's privacy, and could lead to potentially dangerous situations, one could not deny that it was useful at times.

"Well okay then..."

She frowned. She didn't feel comfortable with leaving him to his own devices in a place he had never been before but at the moment it couldn't be helped. Sooner or later, he would come to them, or he would call them when he needed to.

For the time being, they had to be patient and wait. If he didn't contact them, they would go off to find him when the time came for it. And with that in mind, the two girls went to the recently decided destination in the land of snow.

※※※※※

He was confused. Really confused. He had no idea why he was even here to begin with.

"..."

After making a few roundabout maneuvers around the neighboring streets, Ram and her sister had found a cafe and hurried inside, dragging the blue haired youth inside with them. Having found booth right by the window, Tsukamoto was practically thrown into his seat, and the twins looked around cautiously, mainly out the window for their apparent pursuer. A waitress walked up to them and asked them if they wanted to place their order, only for Ram to shush her, prompting her to back off a bit.

 _("Alright Shizuki... just what the heck did you get yourself into this time?")_

During this whole ordeal, he had wondered if these two were running away from some kind of predator or if they had stolen from one of the neighboring shops and were running from a shop keeper. Either way, he wasn't going to get any answers just sitting there with an expression of bewilderment.

With a light sigh, he finally spoke.

"So uh... you wanna tell me why we're hiding? Please don't say you stole something..."

"We didn't do anything like that!" Said Ram in a hushed shout. "You see, we're running from this scary lady who won't leave us alone, even after we told her to buzz off!"

"Mhm..!"

The girl in pink explained in a urgent tone while her twin sister nodded in agreement. Shizuki was about to ask who was chasing them, but something had caught his attention before he could even form the words. Looking out the window, he saw what appeared to be the pursuer in question.

"Uh, would this 'scary lady' of yours happen to be that person over there?"

The blue haired youth asked curiously, prompting the twins to follow his gaze. Just across the street from the cafe they were in was a a bespectacled young woman with long, aqua blue hair, dressed in a red dress and a cap of the same color. The woman in question wore a concerned look on her face as she walked about, looking around. She didn't appear menacing in the slightest in Shizuki's eyes. In fact, she looked like a very reliable person.

The twins in turn, firmly nodded, answering his question.

"She doesn't look scary to me... any reason why a graduating student would be chasing you?"

Ram would shake her head forcefully before replying.

"She's not a graduating student, she was sent by that big meanie Blanc to take us back."

"Blanc?"

He repeated the name, realizing that this was not the first time he heard it before.

"You two wouldn't happen to know Lowee's CPU would you?"

"Well duh, of course we do! We're her little sisters!"

Ram proudly declared, prompting the blue haired youth's eyes to widen upon the realization that he had been speaking to the Goddesses' sisters.

"Hold on, you're her sisters?"

"Uh-huh! I'm Ram, and this here is Rom!"

She motioned over to her twin sister who meekly spoke up.

"H-Hello..."

"And we're Lowee's CPU candidates!"

The twin in pink smiled proudly as she declared so.

 _("CPU Candidates?")_

He was just recently introduced to the term when hearing about it on TV. Apparently, they were individuals who were designed to be successors to the current Goddesses of Gamindustri. It was also that they, in the event of a catastrophe that renders the current Goddesses unable to carry out their roles, they would step in as the new CPU. So far, every nation except Leanbox had a CPU Candidate and from what he heard, Lowee had two of them.

Still, given his current track record, he thought that he was more likely to encounter another monster by chance than anyone of the Goddesses, so he didn't expect to run into two of them like this.

"I see, I didn't get to introduce myself properly. I'm Shizuki, Tsukamoto Shizuki. It's nice to meet you two."

The male introduced himself kindly, while giving them a warm smile, to which the twins smiled back in return.

"Nice to meetchya Mister Shizuki!"

"Y-Yeah! Nice to meet you...!"

Now that the proper introductions were out of the way, Tsukamoto had to ask the next obvious question, now curious about their situation.

"So... can I ask why you two are hiding from your sister? Did you run away from home?"

"Well, we didn't really run away..."

Ram spoke tentatively, directing her gaze to the side.

"You see, me and Rom really wanted to go to this fun amusement park with her, so we asked her if we could go, and she kept ignoring us... she was too busy with her stupid work to take us, and when we asked again, she cursed us out and told us to scram..."

The CPU Candidate spoke in a somewhat depressed tone, remembering the exchange.

"A-After that, Ram stormed off and I followed her... that's when Mina started to follow us..."

Rom interjected in a soft voice.

"Mina? Would that happen to be the lady that was out there earlier?"

Shizuki inquired, prompting Ram to nod in response.

"She's Lowee's Oracle, and I bet she was sent by Blanc to take us back home so she can yell at us again!"

"Uu... I really wanted to go to Nentin Land with Blanc..."

The twin in blue frowned sadly, casting her gaze downward.

"Hmm..."

Hearing their explanation and seeing their depressed faces Shizuki had a fair understanding of their dilemma───and he could sympathize. They really wanted to go to the amusement park, and they wanted to go with their sister too. It was indeed an innocent wish, but it was mercilessly shot down and trampled on by the one person they looked up to. Given this, he could understand the struggles of growing up with a parental figure who was never really around.

He didn't know if the Candidates aged or not, but he didn't want them to grow up with a similar kind of loneliness and bitterness he felt over the years.

And so with some careful thought, he finally spoke.

"Well, if you guys are okay with it, I'd be happy to accompany you to the amusement park."

"Huh? really?"

Ram perked up, hearing his proposal.

"I don't think I could ever be a replacement for your sister but───I can tell you guys really wanted to go there. Plus, I've never really been to an amusement park myself, so I kinda want to experience it myself."

The blue haired youth replied, scratching his cheek a bit with a smile. After hearing his answer, the twins hopped out of the booth and smiled cheerfully.

"Thanks a lot Mister Shizuki! You're awesome!"

"So awesome..!"

The two girls exclaimed happily, their praise prompting the youth's cheeks to turn a slight pink from embarrassment, as he wasn't used to being praised so much.

"O-Oh, it's nothing to be praised about, really. Don't sweat it." _("I should give the others a call know where I'm going first... Maybe they'll want to tag along too.")_

He remembered that he got separated from his comrades and wondered if they were worried about his whereabouts and looking around for him. As he thought about contacting his party members about his whereabouts and activities, Shizuki felt both of his hands being grabbed.

 **"Let's go──!"**

The twins smiled happily as they pulled him out the seat and ran off out of the cafe with the teen in tow.

"H-Hey, slow down a minute!"

※※※※※

The pair had left the busy shopping district and found themselves on a hill with a narrowly winding road. Here, they were surrounded by peculiarly designed houses that ranged from gingerbread-looking homes, to those looking like pink or blue mushrooms. At the stop of the hill was a standard european style home that was grey and blue in color. The home appeared to be small, with only the front door and two windows seen on the front of the house.

This was their destination.

The owner of the house was a girl named Gust, who was apparently an alchemist of sorts that gathered items and materials for various kinds of potions and medicine she makes and gives to others. She wasn't just local───she traveled all over the continent to offer her services to others. Not without a price however...

"?"

As they were approaching the house, they could see two people standing in front of it. One of the individuals was a small girl with fair skin and bright chocolate brown eyes. Her hair almost matches her eyes and is shown to be very short, just framing her face. Her most noticeable feature is her giant white bunny cap. She was wearing a light blue dress with princess-puff sleeves and ruffled lining. At her neck and the bottom of the dress is a big brown segment along with black marks and a gold buckle. They recognized her as the one they came to visit.

However the second person was unknown to them. It appeared to be a tall, thin man of uncertain age wearing a black fedora with a grey or white hatband, a knee length, notched lapel, black trenchcoat with the collar upturned to obscure part of his face and a loose white turtleneck underneath. From this distance, much of his face including his eyes could not be seen, but he likely had a somewhat gaunt face with visible cheekbones and a pale complexion.

"...As I was saying, I am looking for this individual. He is in possession of a dangerous weapon that I would like to recover before any unforeseen catastrophes occur. As you are a person who frequently travels the world, I am curious to know if you have seen this young man."

The man in black spoke in a somewhat synthesized voice as he held out the picture of a teenaged boy with unremarkable features.

"Hmm... can't say I have. Gust has been to many places and has met many people, unfortunately, this person doesn't look familiar to me."

"I see. How disappointing. Well, if that is the case, then I will be on my way. My apologies for disturbing your business."

The enigmatic man in black bowed his head slightly before turning and walking away from the girl without another word. As he walked by IF and Compa, the two briefly froze in the tracks as they felt an oppressive aura come from him.

"Talk about creepy.. What's with that guy?"

"N-Now now, Iffy you can't judge a book by its cover, though he did seem kinda scary..."

"Scary's an understatement Compa. The guy reeks of blood."

The girl in blue frown a bit when thinking of the peculiarly strong scent the man carried.

"Maybe he's wearing a special blood scented Cologne? I bet that's what boys are into these days!"

"I don't know of any boys that want to go around smelling like they've just swam a marathon in a lake full of corpses. Then again, I don't really know what boys are into in general... well, whatever."

IF shrugged and continued walking. When they were close enough, the girl named Gust seemed to notice them.

"Ah, you two! It been a while."

"It really has! How have you been?" said Compa with a pleasant smile.

"I have been well. Gust's business has been thriving as usual!"

"You've got some pretty odd customers. Was he one of your regulars?" IF asked, wanting to know a bit more about the man in black.

Gust however, shook her head and frowned somewhat.

"I'm afraid this is the first time I've met that person, and he didn't buy anything..."

"What did the scary man want then?" asked Compa.

"He approached Gust and wanted to ask if I had seen an average looking person during my many travels. He said this person had a dangerous weapon and wanted to get it back as soon as possible. I told him I saw no such person and after that, he just left."

"Hm, that guy is definitely shady. We might have to keep an eye on him in case he starts trouble."

In her experience, people like that who went around asking questions about certain people or subjects were usually the most suspicious. Whether or not he had malicious intentions was debatable, but she couldn't shake off the dreadful aura and blood scent that man had given off. IF decided to make a mental note to notify some of her contacts in Lowee to monitor that man just in case.

"All that aside, what bring you here to Lowee?"

"We came here because we wanted to show a friend around the four nations. But we kind of got separated in a crowd earlier..."

"I see, I see, do you need help finding your friend?"

IF shook her head and answered. "That's alright, we were actually going to head out and look for him once we were finished up here."

In front of Gust was a grey colored cauldron of sorts with a big wooden stick inside. The cauldron was filled with a blue colored substance that was also glowing faintly as a result of the mixing of several foreign substances. Whatever those substances may be...

Staring into the blue pit, Compa couldn't help but be mesmerized by it.

"Isn't alchemy just miraculous? You can make all sorts of things just by twirling a magic stick in a cauldron."

"No Magic. Not just twirling either. Silly how novices think like that. You should know there is much art in the twirl." The little alchemist scoffed lightly at the misconception of her work.

"I see. Could I maybe learn the ways?"

"Care to try?"

"Yessy! I've been interested for a while now. I thought it would be more convenient to make medicines on my own."

"By all means do whatever you want."

"Really?" Asked Compa as her eyes were practically sparkling at this point.

"Yes, however you must call me 'Master' from this day forward."

"Yessy, master!"

※

"To perform Alchemy, you first need a recipe. Have any?"

The smol alchemist named Gust inquired as she instructed her new pupil who was standing over the cauldron while holding the stick. IF on the other hand simply stood off to the side and watched.

"Let's see... I've got these Breadcrumbs, this cup of baby food, a little syringe, a silver teaspoon annnndd... this plush doll of Nep-Nep!"

IF stared at her friend with a somewhat bewildered expression on her face as she pulled out the aforementioned items from her pouch.

"...Just why do you carry all that junk around with you in the first place?"

"It's not junk Iffy! And you never know when these things might come in handy. As grandpa always said, 'It's not good to judge an object's worth by it's mere appearance alone!'"

"Well, whatever you say Compa..." The brunette sighed. "Just don't go crying when this blows up."

"It won't blow up. Everything will be fine while I'm under Master Gust's study! So how are these?"

Gust looked over the items and inspected them carefully before nodding.

"Hm... I guess we can use these for now. Depending on what you want, next you throw in ingredients."

"Ok! I want to make a pill that can heal people and cure all their illnesses soo..."

Without any hesitation, she threw all of the random items she picked out into the cauldron and the substance inside began to glow.

"Done! So what next?"

"Stir it up rhythmically. Twirl, twirl..."

"Yessy! Twirl, twirl! "

The alchemist in training started to hum a cheerful tune as she begun to twirl the stick inside of the cauldron, mixing all of the items in with the unknown substance inside. Shortly after, the already alien looking fluid had begun to dramatically change into colors such as purple, yellow, pink and even red.

"You got it. Now I'll step very far back and watch you from safe distance."

"H-Huh?"

Without a moment to waste, both Gust and IF took about 16 steps back and hid behind some bushes that happened to be there.

"Why do all that?"

"Dangerous if you screw up."

"Oh I see! Wait a minute... did you say dangerous!?"

The smol alchemist strongly nodded her head as she peered her head from behind the bushes.

"Mm. It's inevitable for alchemists to face their own mortality in some minor, kinda fatal explosions."

"W-What should I do Master? The liquid's looking real dark and gooey..."

Naturally, she would get no response from her teacher as she had already hidden behind the bush completely. The mixture which contained all the items Compa had thrown into it had already become a purple/black color and was beginning to rapidly bubble, like boiling water on a stove.

"Uwaah! It's starting to bubble! Master! Iffy! Shizu-kun! Help desuuuuuu!"

And just like a nuclear core reactor going into meltdown, the contents within the cauldron violently exploded, sending much of the dark gunk flying everywhere as well as sending smoke high into the air. The explosion was so loud, that a certain oracle, a certain blue haired youth and two twin goddesses momentarily stopped what they were doing to look at the origin of the loud sound and the small dark mushroom cloud in the distance.

When the smoke cleared, the bushes IF and gust were hiding behind had their leaves blown off and the two were coughing vehemently.

"Cough...cough...Compa?"

"You're...alive?"

Much to their surprise, the initiator of the explosion was still in one piece—but had a very unkempt appearance with all the smoke and gunk on her, while sitting on the floor.

"Uu...that was mean Master..."

"If you succeed on first try, alchemy would not be lucrative career."

"I'll say," Started IF who was also slightly dirty from the explosion. "Maybe you should just stick to being a nurse. That way you won't kill anyone with random explosions."

※

About 20 or so minutes and a lot of gunk later, the girls had cleaned themselves up and managed to clean up the dark substances that was gathered around the area and managed to scrap as much as they good into plastic containers. After the clean up, the material was inspected by Gust who remarked that it was like a toxic drug that could take down a Wyvern and presumably even be lethal for a human if used a certain amount. It looked sticky and black, but had parts of it glow a dark purple. It also gave off a smell that would even kill flies and other pests attracted to sour smells if they came into contact with it. Truly, it was something that should not be ingested by any man.

"Congrats, Compa. You tried to create the world's greatest medicine but instead, you created the world's deadliest poison imaginable."

"I don't know if I should be proud or disappointed..."

The pink haired nurse sighed dejectedly as she hung her arms. After cleaning up that mess, the two girls decided to take some of the containers───in hopes of possibly using it against monsters should they ever come across one in the future. After realizing how much time had passed and that their missing friend had yet to contact them, they decided to bid Gust farewell and be on their way, thus bringing Compa's short lived occupation as an apprentice level alchemist to an end.

"Still, this should a useful weapon against monsters like The Gleam Eyes. Heh, maybe we should use some of this on that woman while we're at it too."

"Iffy, as a nurse, it's my job to heal people and make them feel better, not poison them with icky alchemy goo."

Compa frowned and gave IF a disappointed look. Its nature not withstanding, she seemed pretty offended by the idea of using something she created with good intentions be used in a act of vengeance against a certain red haired woman.

"Alright, alright. I'll scrap the idea. (For now at least.)" The brunette sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "In any case we should find Shizu. I don't know where he is or what he could be doing but we should at least give him a call to see if he's alright."

Having said that, IF took out her personal cellphone. It was a simple smartphone much like the one she had given Shizuki, but the phone was light green in color. Additionally, this was only one of several phones she carried around with her. Each of them had a specific purpose and had certain contacts on them for specific things like guild work. The one she was currently using was her own personal phone───meaning the contacts on it were some of her close friends like, Compa, the planeptune sisters, and the recent addition of contacts, Shizuki.

She turned the phone on. She flipped through her contacts and saw the name of the person she wanted to call, but before she could press the number...

"Ah, Compa, IF... thank goodness you two are here..."

A bespectacled woman, older than they were approached them. She had long blue hair, wore red dress and a matching cap that gave her the appearance of a scholar.

"Miss Mina? What's the matter?"

Compa questioned, noticing the worried expression and the exhaustion on her face.

"It's Rom and Ram... they have gone missing."

※※※※※

After telling them that he would be happy to accompany them to the park, Rom and Ram had dragged Shizuki over to the amusement park they were so eager to to visit. Because of the park having strict rules about children having chaperones above the age of 13, the twins simply couldn't go by themselves as they weren't old enough to go by themselves, even though they were goddesses who didn't age, they still looked and acted like children.

With the youth, they were able to go in and have access to most of the rides, the establishment had to offer. One of the rides the twins were eager to get on were the bumper cars which consisted of hitting one's car with another. The trio had gotten into their chosen vehicles and proceeded to spend the next 18 minutes or so, trying to hit one another or trying to avoid being hit.

After that, they proceeded to go to an area of the park where colorful mushrooms and giant turtles were residing, along with multi-colored blocks that were hovering in mid air. The twins ran about, hopping on the mushrooms and riding on the backs of the turtles, all while laughing and giggling.

Soon afterward, they started playing a game of peak a boo in blue colored 'chimneys' that were in the ground, peaking their heads out of them.

"Rom! Where are you?!"

Ram called out to her hidden sister.

"Over here..!"

The twin in blue replied, popping her head out from the chimney with a giggle. As the two girls continued to play around, Shizuki sat on a bench, exhausted from all the running around he did today.

 _("Boy, am I tired... I haven't done this much running around in quite a while.")_

He mentally remarked to himself, just realizing that he had more fun than he thought he would. He seemed to remember doing some more or less similar stuff with another kid way back when, but remembering those times also brought back the memories of some bad events that followed so he immediately shelved the thoughts, lest he enter in one of his "moods".

 _("I originally wanted to come here because I thought this place had some kind of connection to the weird dream I've been having. Obviously I was proven wrong, but...")_

He looked over at the twins who were still playing. Compared to their mood before, they seemed genuinely happy now. He couldn't word it or place his finger on it correctly, but seeing them happy gave him a warm feeling that put a smile on his face. If he were in Russia and was seen with such an expression, he would be called an idiot of some kind, but he didn't really care how dopey he looked at the moment.

"...maybe the result was even better than what I'd hoped for."

What started out as a mission to tend to his own curiosity, he ended up doing some good in it. While he didn't exactly find what he was looking for, that didn't matter at the moment, because he ended up making someone happy, and as long as that were the case, then he was content with just that.

 _("Brilliant. For once, I'm not thrown into a cave or pit against a monster that wants to eat my face off, and instead, I ended up making two girls happy. Surely, if every other day here could go this smoothly, I would be──")_

Shizuki froze. He had not really been aware of how much time had passed since he encountered Rom and Ram in the shopping district. His trail of thoughts ultimately led back to the two others he came to Lowee with first, and realized that it had been well over an hour since he got separated from the pair.

 _("Shit! How could I forget that easily! Compa-san and Ai-san must be worried sick by now! I should give them a call and let them know where I am.")_

Reaching into his pockets, he took out his recently obtained smartphone and turned it on, but then he stopped and began to think.

 _("Wait a sec. If they were worried about me, they would've called ages ago. Maybe they thought I'd be okay and let me wander around on my own for a while? Or maybe...")_

Tsukamoto paled slightly when he considered something darker.

 _("Maybe something happened to them? Nah, that can't be right. Those two were able to hold their own against that axe wielding demon, I doubt some muggers are gonna do anything to them.")_

And the likelihood of them being attacked by a monster was also slim. Typically, monsters did not typically venture into populated areas unless they were being directed or controlled to do so. Additionally, there was that strange explosion that occured earlier, and the youth had a feeling that his two party members were involved somehow. Also, there was that Rosalia woman. He thought that there was a chance for her and her cronies to make an appearance to finish off IF after their failed attempt to do so in the cave two days ago.

 _("...Or maybe they're just so busy with errands, they also forgot about me. Yeah, let's go with that.")_

He had decided to go with that one rather than the long list of worse-case scenarios that was growing from paranoia.

And so, he sighed, trying to calm himself a little.

"U..Um..."

He felt a small tug on his sleeve, taking him out of any more thoughts entering his head.

"?"

He looked to see one of the twins, Rom standing beside him while holding something.

"Are you ok mister..? You don't look good..."

"Oh, no I'm fine, nothing to sweat about." Tsukamoto gave a reassuring smile and patted her head lightly. "What's that you got there?"

"O-Oh. This is for you..."

As if remembering why she approached him, she held out a what appeared to be a golden coin with both of her hands. It had the inscription of what looked like a Doggo, and the coin itself was big enough to fit in his whole hand.

"For me?"

"Mhm..! For taking me and Ram here when Blanc wouldn't."

"Oh that? It's nothing. You two looked sad about not coming here with your sister and I'd feel pretty bad if I just left things the way they were."

He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and took the gold coin and took a closer look at it.

"So um... where are you from?"

"Eh?"

The girl's question caught him off guard, but it was only natural that she ask that since he did not look like many of the locals in lowee.

"Well, I currently live in Leanbox, but I'm actually from a far-away country in the east called Japan."

"Japan..? Never heard of it..."

"Well it's... **really** far away."

He couldn't emphasize on just how far away it really was enough. He wasn't sure she would understand that he came from another world entirely, so he decided to leave out that bit of detail.

"Wow... what's it like over there?" Rom asked in a more perked up tone, her eyes now brimming with curiosity.

"Let's see, where should I begin... well, for starters, Japan doesn't have a Goddess as it's ruler. It's mainly just the people themselves that run things over there. There's also people with super powers that live there."

"Super...power?" Her head tilted a bit.

"Yeah! Over there, people can lift objects with their minds, bend metal with their bare hands, and even fly!"

"That sounds so cool! I wanna go there someday..."

There were so many other things he could have told her about Japan, but he only brought up Espers because that particular topic came to mind when thinking about his 'home.'

"Well, maybe I could show you someday."

"R-really..?!"

"Well, I'll have to see about traveling expenses, so no promises, but if I can manage to find a ride back, I'll take you and Ram there too."

"Yay..!"

The CPU candidate smiled happily when hearing this. Tsukamoto smiled as well, but he felt kind of bad for misleading her somewhat. Assuming he DID find a way back to earth, Rom would probably be disappointed to find out that Japan didn't have a utopian city of Espers flying about while learning to master their abilities. If there ever was such a place where "special" people like him were gladly accepted, he would've left his home town and moved into this fictional city a long time ago.

"Rom! Get back over here already! I'm gonna get bored playing by myself y'know!"

They could hear the voice of Ram calling out to her sister from afar, bringing their conversation to a stop.

"Coming..!" She started to run off to where her sister was playing at, but then stopped and turned around. "Are you coming mister?"

"I'll be there in a bit, I'm still resting from all the running around."

"Ok..!" With that said, she finally left.

"Don't go out too far! _(Huh, when you look at them, they really do seem like ordinary kids.)_ "

He had only realized now that he forgot these two were goddesses to begin with. This whole time, he had been seeing them, and treating them as if they were regular girls. This led him to wonder if the other Goddesses and their sisters behaved in such a way, that made it hard to tell that they were in fact the de facto leaders of Gamindustri. From what he was told about the goddesses, the main four at least, they were for lack of better wording, "eccentric", so he wondered if the other candidates were more "normal" like the twins.

He took a look at the coin Rom gave him. It didn't look like the kind of coins people used to pay for things and seemed to be some kind of collectable item of sorts. He had seen a few of these things hovering around the park while he was here and saw other people jumping up and taking some, so he assumed that this was indeed the case.

Before he could think about anything else, the two shadows that suddenly appeared over him caught his attention, followed by the rough male voice that came from one of them.

"Yo──"

Shizuki looked up and saw two guys dressed in dark baggy clothes while wearing sunglasses.

"──Gimme all ya credits."

※

While their current chaperone decided to sit this out and rest for a bit, the twins played around for a while longer. They eventually came across a line of large coins, hovering in mid-air and had begun collecting some of them. Many of them resembled the same coin that Rom gave to Shizuki, but they were larger and had different inscriptions on them.

"Lookit Rom, it's a Guardragon coin, a super rare item!"

Ram exclaimed, jumping up and down with excitement.

"Look, those too..!"

Rom pointed at another line of hovering coins with the same symbol on each of them. Like the others they found, they were gold, but they each had the symbol of a dragon-like creature inscribed on them.

"Wow, so many Guardragon coins!"

The sister in pink went over to the said coins and managed to grab two of them.

"So whatchya talk about with Mister Shizuki?"

"Oh, um... things."

"Thinnnnggss?" Ram gave her sister a grin. "What kinda things?"

"W-Well... things like his home. He said he came from a far away place called Japan, and people have super powers there, just like in the movies."

"Really? That sounds awesome! I wanna see this place!"

Rom nodded, happily. "Mm..! mister Shizuki said he would take us there one day."

"Seriously? Then let's get a whole lot of Guardragon coins for Mister Shizuki as thanks!

"Mm..! let's take some back home for sis too."

The twin in blue suggested, prompting her sister to cross her arms and pout, signifying that she didn't agree with that.

"To her? Why even bother? It's not like she bothered to bring us here! She chose her boring old work over her cute little sisters!"

"Yeah, but..."

Rom frowned and cast her eyes downward, feeling somewhat dejected by her counterpart's response. After seeing her sister make such a depressed expression, Ram simply sighed and spoke.

"Fine, let's bring a lot back for sis too."

"Yeah..!"

Her eyes lit up with joy when she heard that, giving a bright smile in return, but before they could set out to do what they said, three figures approached them, followed by a girl's voice, speaking from behind.

"Hate to ruin the fun kids, but that ain't gonna happen."

※

"Uh... what?"

Shizuki gave the two males before him, a puzzling look as they gave him that demand. The delinquents appeared to be no more younger than the youth himself, and wasn't as physically imposing as they were trying to be. They were also wearing similar clothing, which led the youth to think they were in some kind of gang.

"Oi, you heard the man mate! Give up the cash, or we kick yer ass!"

The second delinquent shouted in what seemed like an Aussie accent, while slamming his fists together.

"Pfft... Hahahahahahahaha!"

The two hoodlums looked at each other with a bewildered expression. Whatever reaction these two were hoping to get out of him, this certainly wasn't it.

"Ahahahaha... oh man, I'm sorry, but what the heck was that?"

Tsukamoto tried to catch his breath from all the laughing he just did.

"Yo! You better shut the fuck up and give us yer credits before we fuck yo shit up, ya feel me?"

The first delinquent interjected, pointing his finger in his face in a threatening manner.

"Pfft... what's with that manner of speaking? Are you trying to be like those edgy gangsters from America right now? Where did you get these awful lines from?"

He tried to hold in another laugh from escaping his mouth. He felt like these two were trying to be threatening, but were failing miserably at it. Their way of speaking was just so bizarre and strange to him, that he couldn't help but burst out laughing from how absurd they sounded.

"You motherfucker! You makin' fun of us?!"

"Mate, you betta shut that trap of yours before we shut it for you. Eh?!"

Both of the hoodlums growled in frustration, though Shizuki didn't seem to sense much danger from them. Instead he just shrugged.

"So uh, I don't know if you knew this, but this is a family park, meaning there's kids here. See? There's two young girls playing nearby as we speak, so you probably shouldn't be talking like that. Whatever... ' **that's** supposed to be."

The Aussie delinquent, finally seemed to have run out of patience and grabbed Shizuki by the collar of his jacket, pulling him off the bench.

"Trying to be a wise guy eh? We don't like wise guys."

"We gonna whop yo sorry ass and steal yo credits. Last chance bruh. Hand em' over and we won't stomp ya in."

Both of the young thugs got up in his face, resulting in Shizuki sighing in slight annoyance. Though he wasn't a trained fighter by any means, he had once gotten into a fist fight or two in middle school, one where he had fought two guys which never resulted in a winner.

The two thugs harassing him had gone from less-than-intimidating and somewhat amusing, to being a bit annoying, and was he was prepared to fight back if necessary. They didn't even seem physically threatening, so he believed he could somewhat manage if there were only two of them.

"Alright you guys, I was in a pretty good mood until just now, and I don't want it to be ruined with unnecessary crap. So will you just──"

But before he could get his point across, he was interrupted by the screams of two girls near by.

 **"S-STOP!"**

 **"LET GO YOU JER──!"**

He recognized the voices straight away. Just a few minutes ago, those voices were full of laughter and cheer, and now they were replaced with distress and fear. It didn't needed to be said who those voices belonged to.

"Rom! Ram!"

With his sense of urgency thrown into overdrive, and without warning, Shizuki immediately pushed the delinquent off of him and ran off into the direction where the voices came from. When he came around the corner, he saw three people dressed in similar dark baggy clothing like the thugs from before. Two of them were restraining the twin CPU candidates, holding tissue laced with some chemical over their mouths.

They squirmed around, trying to get loose from the thugs' hold, but failed to do so, tears beginning to form from their eyes before losing consciousness.

"Hey! Just what the hell are you guys doing?!"

"Eh?"

The third person, who seemed to be the apparent leader glanced at the youth as he shouted at them. The person's appearance stood out from the others who were more or less, average joes in dark sweatsuit-lie outfits. It was a girl with skin as pale as death itself, messy green hair and was dressed in a dark hoodie with mouse ears while wielding a crowbar. With the pale skin, green hair, pointed ears and teeth, one would not peg her for being human, yet they couldn't describe her as anything else but human.

"Beat it, pal. These two are coming with us."

"Like hell they are! What the heck do you plan to do with those girls?!"

"That's for me to know and you to never find out, buddy."

"..."

Tsukamoto glared at them. The girl before him reminded him of the thugs that jumped him days ago before appearing in this world, and the thugs Rosalia had at her beck and call. The condescending grin and attitude──if it was just an isolated incident that involved only him, it would be one thing. But there were two innocent girls involved and they were being targeted while he was overseeing them. This made him a bit more angrier than he usual would be.

The pale girl seemed to notice this and grinned a bit.

"Oh I get it now. You were trying to be all buddy buddy with the goddesses now, were you? Well too bad! You most likely won't see these two brats ever again by the time we're done with them, so why don't you go back to whatever chummy life you had before now?"

He looked at the individuals around him. two guys holding the twins captive, the two guys that were harassing him earlier now standing some ways away behind him, and the girl who seems to be the leader of this little gang. Shizuki couldn't take all five of them on at once. To top it off, one of them had a crowbar, and the youth was unarmed this time. This made him curse himself for leaving his weapon behind when he really shouldn't have.

But before he could do anything, he had to ask a question.

"Why them? Is it because they're goddesses that you're doing this to them?"

"Well, duh, of course we are. The fact that they're related to one of those tramps gives us more than a good reason to come after em'!"

"I see. Guess that settles it then."

That was all he needed to hear before making his next move. He was outnumbered five to one, but there was no way he would let these delinquents snatch them away. Therefore, there was one thing he had to do. Calling IF would take too long, and trying to fight all five of these people at once would be pointless. So he chose his target.

Tsukamoto's body began to move. The pale girl standing before him was the leader, and for certain reasons, her voice seemed to irritate him. She seemed genuinely rotten to the core, and would abandon her own friends (if she even could call these people that) to cover her own tail. At this point, he didn't care that she was a girl──he wanted nothing more than to drive his fist into her pale face and save the twins. That was all.

He began to run. He figured that if he attacked their leader, the other guys, including the ones holding Rom and Ram would attack him as well, releasing the twins in the process. Only by then would he try to find some window of escape, before grabbing the girls and run off. The only problem was that his target had a long melee weapon which would be somewhat bothersome to deal with without his wooden sword.

But he would cross that bridge when he came to it.

So he ran.

"Oh by the way, here's a piece of advice for you pal──"

Despite the youth basically sprinting at her with great speed at this point, the pale girl remained calm.

"──Never befriend a goddess. It doesn't end well for chumps like you."

 _("?!")_

Instead of running away or swinging her crowbar, the girl pulled out a dark object and a loud sound rang through the amusement park catching the few people in it and nearby by surprise. It sounded like an explosion, and almost as loud as the one that happened earlier.

"A...Ahh..!"

Tsukamoto looked down. **There was a gaping dark hole in his stomach** , and in it red liquid oozed out and stained that part of his clothes red. He had felt pain before but this pain was unlike anything he eperienced recently. The bruises he got from the beating back home felt relaxing compared to the burning pain he was feeling right now.

"Guh..! Ahhck!"

He dropped onto one knee and held the area of his body where the hole suddenly appeared. He couldn't think clearly, couldn't speak properly, and could only gaze up at the girl holding a black pistol with smoke coming out of its muzzle.

"Ha! That's what happens when you get involved with CPUs. Let's ditch this place boys!"

"Yeah, Linda!"

"You got it boss!"

Linda and her gang of delinquents took off, taking both Rom and Ram away with them. Shizuki fell onto the ground and watched their figures grow smaller and smaller as they walked. He stretched out his hand in a futile attempt to reach them, before inevitably losing consciousness from the painful gunshot wound to his stomach.

"S...Stop..."

 _ **Episode 3:**_

 _ **Land of White Serenity**_

* * *

Afterword

And yet again, I come out later than intended. I really must break this habit, but don't worry, the fact that I managed to get this out means I haven't given up at all, and it was my New Year's resolution that I would try to get a chap out much sooner than I have been at the pace I was going. let us pray that life doesn't throw me into another gutter of despair, as it has done so as of late. But anyway, welcome new readers and welcome back, for those who read the previous eps. I'm "Kino-san". Now, onto the long awaited reboot of episode 5 from the prototype version.

So the differences between this one and the original are apparent, some things are the same while others have been altered or entirely new. As I might've mentioned last time, you'll see some familiar faces in this episode and well, here they are. Fun fact though, I actually wasn't going to add Gust in this one originally, but the idea came into my head while in the middle of writing and I just kind of improvised. All in all, this was a pretty rudimentary episode, but I'm not necessarily disappointed. Shizuki and Co. goes to Lowee, stuff happens, Compa tries to become an alchemist and fails, and the twins get kidnapped. This one may seem a bit wonky since slice of life isn't one of my strong areas, but you can expect the next episode to have a bit more going on.

Overall, this is probably the most Neptunia-ish chapter I've written so far but just a forewarning, there will be a certain point in this series where the story deviates from what one might expect to see in a neptunia fic or a story based around neptunia, but if you read the prototype version of the story before I rebooted it, you'll have a pretty good idea where things will go later on. This obviously won't happen for quite some time, but you can expect things to get more interesting around episode 5-ish.

And that's all I have to say for now. Like I said, I will try to get these out sooner, but I'd rather not rush. Do stay tuned for **Episode 4: Come the Nashorn**. You know our hero is going to recover from his injury, but how will he resolve this issue?

This has been Kino, and I lay my pen down for the night.

Oh, and happy belated new years.


	4. Episode 4: LICS

_**Episode 4:**_

 ** _L.I.C.S (Linda International Crime Syndicate)_**

The Lowee Basilicom.

It was a large stone castle that rested on top of a hill that oversaw much of the land of Lowee. It was practically the tallest structure in the nation, and anyone who lived in the land of white serenity knew what it was and who lived in it. As one might expect from a building of its size, the Basilicom contained many rooms that served a myriad of purposes, including rooms that served as a living quarters of sorts for some of the employees who worked there.

On the top floor was an office of sorts, though the room was incredibly spacious for one. Within it was a lone girl who looked about fourteen, but given the nature of this particular girl's existence, she was much older than that. With a rather petite figure, she had dark blue eyes and light brown hair, resembling that of a certain pair of twins. Her hair is short, going down to her chin and her fringe is kept parted to the left. On her head is a large and puffy white hat, with ornate blue lining and brown patterns on it. Her attire consists of a white top-dress which presumably goes down to her knees. This dress is sleeveless at the top, and has much chocolate-brown lining around that area. She appeared to wear a brown belt over this dress, as to keep it form-fitting. The final part of her outfit is excessively long and thick white and brown gloves, which nearly go up to her shoulder and have large frills protruding out of the back of them.

"..."

She had been sitting at the only desk in the room, typing away on the computer for several hours now. From the looks of it, one may think that she was simply doing the work that came with her duty as a Goddess, but she had actually finished her real work some hours ago. Instead, she was simply trying to work on a fanfiction story that she had been planning out for several years now, and had just recently managed to publish the first two chapters.

However, she could not get her thoughts in order. It wasn't that she was suffering from writer's block or anything, but rather, her thoughts were more directed toward something else that occured a few hours ago.

※

 _She was working. She had been doing the actual work her occupation required her to do whenever it didn't require her to leave the basilicom to take care of something. Because she was an introvert who spent most of her free time reading or on the computer as well, she didn't actually mind doing such work in the first place._

 _Without warning, the doors to her office swung open, and two girls ran inside. They were twins and physically resembled the girl sitting at her desk──clearly, they were related. Their names were Rom and Ram, the CPU candidates of Lowee. And their elder sister was none other than──_

 _"Blanc!"_

 _"..."_

 _Though she acknowledged their presence, Blanc showed no visible reaction to her sisters sudden entry. Instead, she continued her work, typing away on her keyboard._

 _Ram, the loudest and more energetic of the sisters went up to her and said,_

 _"Hey Hey, can we go to the new amusement park that just opened up?"_

 _"..."_

 _Rom, the quietest of the sisters, spoke up and said,_

 _"We can all go together..!"_

 _"They have these really fun rides like bumper cars, and they have lots of candy and sweets there!"_

 _While still embedded in her work, the elder sister gave a swift but clear response._

 _"No."_

 _"Eh?! Why not?!"_

 _"In case you haven't noticed by now, I'm busy. I don't have time to be fooling around."_

 _The disinterested tone and answer was not a satisfactory answer Ram wanted to hear. In response, she groaned in frustration and shouted at her older sister, whose back was still facing them._

 _"Ugh, no fair! I wanna go to the park!"_

 _"..."_

 _But even so, Blanc paid no heed and continued on her work, though her patience would wear thin if she continued to press on, as evidenced by the slight gripping of her mouse. Ram stomped her foot and continued to shout in frustration._

 _"This sucks! Nepgear and Uni always get to go out and do fun stuff, why can't we?!"_

 _"...Maybe it's because you're selfish and annoying?"_

 _She replied in a indifferent soft spoken voice without looking at them. At this point she was trying to rein in her annoyance with her sisters, but was struggling to do so at the moment. If this continued any longer, she may just explode without warning._

 _But still, she tried her best to maintain her composure and appear impassive and focused._

 _Ram on the other hand didn't have the level of maturity to rein in her own anger as her elder sister did. And so, she shouted once more, stomping her foot in the process._

 _"Ugh! You are so lame, you know that Blanc?! Lame, lame, lame!"_

 _That was it. More shouting followed by some not so well chosen words spoken, was all it took for the goddess' composure to break apart like a wall of ice, being struck by a hammer._

 ** _"I SAID NO GODDAMMIT! WHEN WILL YOU GET IT THROUGH YER THICK SKULLS THAT I'M BUSY AND HAVE WORK TO DO?! NO MEANS NO, SO GET LOST AND SCRAM WOULD YOU?!"_**

 _After spinning her chair around and shouting those harsh words in the twins faces, it only took her a few seconds for her to regain some of her composure, when she noticed the expressions they were making. Both of them wore expressions that looked as if they were about to cry, but no tears were shed at the moment. Instead──_

 _"...You're a big meanie."_

 _Without saying anything else, she parted with those words, storming off out of the room. This prompted Rom to call out to Ram before following her out of the room._

 _"..."_

 _After the pair left, Blanc simply sighed and continued her work._

※

"...Maybe I was a bit too harsh."

In retrospect, she felt she could have handled the situation better than she did at that moment. Had she kept a cooler head, she could have just told her sisters to wait a bit while she finished up her work, and only afterward, would she be free to take them there. The twins would have been a bit more receptive to that answer than the condescending responses she had thrown at them before snapping at them like she did.

But this was somewhat normal for her. Among the goddesses, she was never really known for keeping a cool head in certain situations. She had anger issues and would occasionally lash out at her sisters and sometimes the basilicom servants if she felt they did something to earn her ire. Her constant outbursts on certain topics and situations often made her a target of teasing from the other CPUs, and this alone frustrated her──both at them and herself for allowing herself to be riled up by the most trivial of matters.

 _("It's getting late. Maybe Mina found them by now.")_

She looked out the window just left of her desk. The sky as beginning to turn orange which meant that the sun was starting to set. After the whole ordeal, she had asked Mina, the Oracle of Lowee who also served as Rom and Ram's caretaker and educator to go after them and bring them back, but not to yell at them, but to apologize to them. Even though they disrupted her work and were being rather bossy about wanting to go, she had ultimately said some hurtful things that were unnecessary.

Knowing her sisters, Blanc assumed that they were avoiding Mina at every turn and was just wandering around the town at this point. They couldn't get into the park without an older chaperone, so it was unlikely that they were able to get there. Or perhaps Mina had joined them and they went to the park together. She hadn't heard back from the Oracle, so she was currently in the dark about what was transpiring with the girls at this time.

With this in mind, Blanc thought about calling Mina to get an update, but before she could even reach for her phone, something else caught her attention.

"...? What's this?"

The sound came from her computer. It was a notification on the bottom of the screen that told her she had received an e-mail.

"An e-mail?"

She moved the cursor over the mail symbol in the task bar and clicked on it. After quickly loading, it opened up to her inbox which the message in question only had the words, ' **CLICK THIS NOW** ' in all caps, with the sender's email address only consisting of an assortment of random numbers and letters. It looked suspicious and she considered just to ignore it and delete it on sight, with the possibility of it being some kind of Trojan, porn ad, or the usual spam mail everyone gets at some point, but she decided to humor herself and click it anyway.

But after she clicked it, her heart immediately sank when she looked at the screen. What she saw wasn't a virus, nor a porn ad or spam junk, but she would have preferred any of the above over what she was sent. She immediately stood up, with conflicting emotions running through her head. She didn't know if she was scared or angry, but she felt that it was some combination of the two.

"W...What the...?"

She felt dizzy. Her body was beginning to feel hot. She had been feeling unwell for the past two days, but she had simply willed herself to power through it. But now──perhaps due to the stress her current emotions was giving her, her cold somehow flared up and was striking back.

She spun around weakly and tried to walk towards the doors, but after only taking a single step, her legs gave way and collapsed onto the marble floor, breathing heavily.

She wanted to move, but her body refused to obey her commands. Instead, she laid their motionlessly, closing her eyes slowly as the dizziness and headache was beginning to overtake her. But before she completely lost consciousness, the goddess muttered the two names her concerns were directed towards the whole time.

"Rom... Ram..."

※※※※※

"...So tell me how this all started again?"

"Well..."

The Oracle of Lowee named Nishizawa Mina began to explain the series of events involving the twins to IF as best she can. After she had seen IF and Compa and approached them, asking for their assistance in finding Ram and Rom, though didn't initially go into the full details of why they ran off. And so, the three had been going around the area, looking for them and even asking some of the locals, but to no avail.

And on top of that, Tsukamoto Shizuki was also missing, so they had to look for him as well. After Mina had explained further, IF simply nodded and crossed her arms.

"Nentin-Land huh? That's actually pretty close from here if I remember."

As she remarked this, Compa, who had finished talking to a local shopkeeper about the whereabouts of the twins or Tsukamoto had came running back to them.

"Any luck?"

"Afraid not Iffy... I talked to a lot of people here but none of them saw Rom, Ram or Shizu-kun." She said so in a dejected tone.

"Mina, have you by any chance checked the park?"

"I'm afraid I have not... if Rom and Ram were to go there, they would not be able to enter without an adult supervisor."

"I see. Let's check there anyway. For some reason, I have a feeling we might find something there."

The pinkette nodded in agreement.

"I agree! It's a better lead than nothing at all desu!"

"Let's get a move on while it's still daylight out."

The three women started to walk and head off into the direction where the amusement park was, but before they were even able to take the first step, they were distracted by a sound.

It was not as loud as the explosion that was caused at a certain alchemist's place but it was a pop that was loud enough to be heard from their position.

Which was also signified that whatever caused it was nearby.

"A gunshot?!"

IF knew a gunshot when she heard one. She had been involved in many battles over the years to know what one sounded like, and from what type of gun it came from. It didn't sound like a shot that came from something like a shotgun but rather, from a smaller weapon, probably a pistol.

"That sounded like it came from the direction of the park..."

The blue haired oracle pointed out, looking in said direction with a worried expression. All three of them would gain an ominous sense of dread from the sound──that it signified something would indeed be found there, but not something that they would want to find.

Despite this, they all had the urge to rush over to the location where the sound was heard. So they ran. They ran through the entrance of the park and turned left where they indeed saw something.

Although there were not that many people around in the park, there were some hanging around, and those few had been gathered, looking at something on the ground.

It was a pool of something dark. It had a vermilion color to it and it gave off a unignorable smell. Indeed, it was a pool of blood as if a bucket of it was spilled onto the ground. But that's not all.

Inside the vermilion pool of liquid was a body. The body of a certain youth.

From the angle they were at, they could already tell that the person laying there was a male, and there didn't appear that there were any other bodies. However...

"N...No..."

"...I hate being right."

Both Compa and IF grew pale when they got a closer look at the body laying there face first. They recognized his clothes. They recognized his blue scarf. They recognized his blue hair.

The body laying in the pool of blood was Tsukamoto Shizuki.

They quickly rushed over to him, not caring for the blood getting splattered all over their shoes and turned him over. He was indeed shot, as evidenced by the bleeding hole in his abdomen.

"Crap, he isn't breathing... it looks like he's lost a lot of blood too..."

IF checked to see if he had a pulse, but couldn't feel one. More so, he was quickly losing blood the longer the wound was left untreated. Not only that, but his body was also becoming colder in temperature.

"Mina, you can use magic can't you? Isn't there a spell or anything that can close this wound?"

The addressed shook her head sullenly before answering IF's question looking at the male's wound.

"I am afraid not... not for anything this severe. Perhaps we should take him to a hospital."

"Damn, there's no time. By then, it'll already be too late. Compa, is there anything you could──"

Before she could finish, a soft pink aura had enveloped Tsukamoto's body. IF and Mina were somewhat startled by the sudden occurrence, then turned to face the apparent source of the phenomena.

There next to them was Compa, kneeling down in front of the body of her friend with her hands clasped together. Looking at this particular scene, one would think that she was praying for her friend's recovery to an unseen deity. However, she wasn't simply praying.

"..."

Surrounding her body was a soft pink light like the one around her friend, tears were already beginning to form from he closed eyes as the aura continued surrounding them.

It was an ability called **«Heaven's Touch»**. It was an ability that allowed her to heal the wounds of others. However, there was a flaw with it.

 **«Heaven's Touch»** , while a useful ability, it could only heal minor wounds like cuts or scraps. As for more deep and severe wounds like a gunshot wound, those were trickier to heal. The ability would work, but it would work significantly slowly on these types of wounds due to the severity of them. Also, there was another flaw in its usage. If used continuously for a certain amount of time, the user's body would become strained and grow weaker. If continued, it would prove fatal for her.

But at the moment, she didn't care about that.

 _("Please come back, Shizu-kun... please don't leave us... not like this...")_

She was putting almost all of her strength into closing the bloody hole, but no matter how much she tried, it simply wasn't enough. The wound was too deep and it wasn't closing fast enough. After several minutes or so of using **«Heaven's Touch»** , Compa could no longer maintain the healing energy on him and the soft pink light vanished from around them.

"Compa..."

IF muttered worriedly, looking at her friend who at this point, was now on the verge of crying.

"No... I have to treat him as best as I can... I-I'm a nurse after all..."

"..."

"I-I know we haven't known him all that long...b-but I wanted to spend more time with him..!"

She took hold of his hands with both of her own, tears now streaming down her face. No matter how many times she tried to invoke **«Heaven's Touch»** , the healing energy wouldn't manifest around them.

"T-This is too sad..! I don't want it to end... not like this..!"

As Compa wept, tears began to fall onto the boy's unmoving face. IF and Mina looked down sullenly. They both found this whole situation almost as upsetting as Compa did.

Just as when they had given up hope for the boy's survival...

Just as the two girls who had known him for just nearly four days were ready to bury him...

Something had happened.

"?"

As if to answer his friend's cries, an aura of blue light had suddenly appeared around him with a 'whoosh' noise. The sudden occurrence had startled all three of the girls and caused them to cast their gaze at the phenomena that was taking place.

Tsukamoto's deep wound had started to close──and quickly too. Mina stood there, completely bewildered by what was happening, but IF and Compa had suddenly remembered. Shizuki had an ability that repaired dangerous wounds, and on top of that, he had a pair of eyes that allowed him to visualize the 'Concept' of living creatures.

And not only that, he could even touch them.

Not even a full minute passed and his wound was already closed. The blue aura of light around his body started to fade, signifying that the ability had completed its job. And then...

"Ahck! Ahhh!"

He immediately sat up and let out that shout, causing the girl holding his hand to instinctively flinch away. Possibly from a result of him being in shock from receiving his injury, he frantically put his hand on the area he was shot and looked at it. Only after seeing that the wound was no longer there and he wasn't in any kind of pain, he seemed to have calmed down a little and exhaled a relieved sigh.

After sensing the presence of someone right next to him, he turned to look at Compa with some confusion. With tears still in her eyes, she wore an expression that was a mix between surprise and relief.

"Er... Compa-san..?"

She seemed to be at a loss for words at the moment. She tried to form words, but her overflowing emotions couldn't allow it and she instead embraced him tightly and cried.

"U-Uh...?"

Tsukamoto blinked in confusion. Whatever he was expecting when he woke up, this certainly wasn't it. He looked up and saw IF who gave him a relieved smile.

"Welcome back Shizu."

Mina also smiled. She didn't know what exactly happened in regards to his sudden recovery, but she was relieved that the stranger was doing well from the looks of it. Still, she was worried about the twins who were nowhere to be seen.

※

His head was hazy.

It had been some time since his head felt this out of sorts. The first thing he remembered was an unbearable sharp pain in his abdomen, before losing consciousness. When he awoke, the first thing he saw was a teary-eyed Compa and was surprised by the hug he received from her. She must have seen his sorry state and despaired thinking the worst. IF was also there with her, along with another person he did not recognize, at least not initially, but her appearance reminded him of a scholar of some sort──why was such a person with them?

After getting themselves together and collecting their thoughts, they left the puddle of blood and went over to rest on a nearby bench. There, Tsukamoto's head became clear as he started to remember the sequence of events that lead to this point. When they asked what happened to him, he started to explain everything from the beginning. How he got separated from his friends in the crowd of people in the shopping district, his unexpected encounter with the CPU candidates of Lowee, taking them to the amusement park they were currently in to cheer them up, and his encounter with the thugs that appeared, which he now suspects were merely trying to distract him at that point.

"...And after that, that ugly girl took out a gun and shot me, then she made off with the twins and those other guys. That's pretty much all I remember after that."

Mina frowned. She was already worried about the twins, but this sudden turn of events was literally on one of her worst case scenarios she didn't want happening.

"Why in the world would they ever do such a thing?"

"I don't know. From what the ugly girl said, it sounded like they did it just because they were CPU candidates, or maybe because their sister was the goddess of Lowee."

IF touched her chin as she began to think about the situation──more specifically the people involved.

"This 'Ugly Girl' sounds like the ringleader of this little band of rejects. Did you get her name, Shizu?"

"Actually, I think I did. One of those guys that was with her called her 'Linda.' She was really ugly too, pale skin, bleached green hair and pointed ears."

Linda. The name brought forth the image of a pale skinned girl in his mind. This however irritated him──whenever her face came into his mind, he was overcome with an urge to punch the daylights out of her. Something he intended to do when he DID find her.

However, all three girls showed a somewhat surprised reaction, as if the name was already familiar to them.

"Miss underling?"

"So she's at it again eh? I swear, she's a real pain in the ass..."

Tsukamoto tilted his head slightly in confusion from IF's and Compa's reactions.

"? You know that freak?"

"Oh yeah. You have no idea how many times we've had to deal with her and her shenanigans." Groaned IF.

"Miss Underling's a bad person that's always tried to beat Nep-Nep and the others."

"And since she's involved in this incident, there's no doubt she's working for someone else." The brunette crossed her arms and pondered. "But who could it be this time? Arfoire? That Flamboyant hacker? Don't tell me it's that CFW Trick guy again..."

Shizuki obviously didn't know the people she was referring to, but regardless who put Linda up to it, he would be having a stern talking to with them, after he punched the person in the face and made sure Ram and Rom were safe. However, his anger as not just directed at the perpetrators.

"Damn it. This mess is all my fault. If I wasn't so distracted with those idiots, I could have done something to prevent this!"

"It's not your fault Shizu-kun..." Compa placed a hand on his shoulder, attempting to console him, but her words seemed to go in one ear and out the other as he continued.

"And what the hell is their sister doing?! She's the whole reason they're in this mess! If she had decided to bring them here herself, or had been kinder to them when she rejected them, none of this would have happened!"

Mina frowned at Tsukamoto's words. Since she was also their caretaker, she felt like she failed them in some way.

"Please do not be so harsh with Blanc... you must understand that she can become preoccupied with her work as this land's Goddess and as such, she appointed me to be Rom and Ram's caretaker as well as their educator. If you have anyone to blame, please blame me."

"If she really cared about them, she wouldn't just pass off her role as their sister to somebody else."

Shizuki stated sharply.

"I might not have any right to say this since I don't have any siblings or any parents for that matter, but I do know this: She's their family right? There should be no excuse for someone to brush aside their own family like this. Brother, sister, father, mother, people like that should be cherished no matter what. I understand being busy with your own stuff, but that shouldn't be a reason to treat them like they're an annoyance when all they wanted to do was to spend time with you!"

His left hand was clinched into a fist as he continued.

"And if she thought that by handing off her real job as their family to someone she hired just to make things easy for herself, then she's already failed them in my eyes. At least try and make an effort to be there for them damn it!"

He knew what it was like. He knew what it was like to grow up without having a family member around to be with him, especially in his times of need. There was a woman named Tsukamoto Hakurei. After finding him among the wreckage of a certain accident, that supposedly killed his birth parents, he was taken in by this woman and was given his current name. However, she would always leave to do work overseas, only coming home a certain number of times and spending 4 days there before heading out again. As a result, he always felt lonely, and these feelings would only grow after certain incidents that would occur years later. Even if a neighbor occasionally came over to watch him at some point, the feelings still remained.

So whenever he heard stories about how family members mistreated or abandoned each other, it made him angry. He simply couldn't understand how people could become so cold and distant toward one another.

There was a heavy silence that fell upon them after that, due to the tense atmosphere that was created by this conversation. Mina gazed downward with a somewhat sullen expression. She couldn't find response to his words because to an extent he was right. But at the same time she knew that Blanc cared about her sisters. She knew that when she hears what happened, Blanc would immediately drop everything and rush to their rescue, killing anything──or anyone that stood in her way.

Before she could say anything else on the matter, she heard a muffled buzzing sound in her red robe.

"?"

The blue haired Oracle reached into her robe and took out an aqua colored cell phone. She pressed a button and placed it up to her ear.

"Hello? Nishizawa Mina speaking."

She remained quiet for a few moments, as the person on the other end was speaking, but suddenly, Mina's face lost color and she let out a small gasp. Shizuki, Compa and IF didn't know who she was speaking to nor what was being said on the other end, but based on the look on her face, it looked like something serious had happened.

"...I understand. I will be there shortly."

After saying that, Mina turned off the phone and placed it back into her robes. Curious, Compa spoke up.

"What was that about Miss Mina?"

"...We should return to the Bacilicom immediately."

※※※※※

The four had returned to Lowee's basilicom because of an emergency apparently. From Shizuki's perspective this was the first time he had ever been here, but IF and Compa had been here before several times and Mina lived here with the goddess. The basilicom guards and servants politely greeted them upon their arrival and led them inside. The hallways were large, with white marble floors and walls giving the place an Icy feel to it. On the walls were portraits of people Tsukamoto didn't recognize, but one of them had the picture of a woman who looked somewhat of an older version of Rom, which gave him the impression that this was Blanc, the older sister. Above them were golden chandeliers with blue lights in them, and the window curtains were navy blue in color. All in all, it was a very fancy and well taken care of place. Shizuki could see a goddess living in a place like this.

The basilicom guard lead them to a door looked like it led to an important room. There were actually two doors and both were about 16 feet in height, which indicated that the room itself was also quite spacious. The basilicom guard told them to please wait there as she went to get somebody. While they were waiting, Shizuki looked over at a small table and noticed a picture sitting there. Out of curiosity, he picked up the picture to inspect it. He recognized two of the people in photo being Rom and Ram, followed by one other girl who looked just like them, but older. It was Blanc, but in the photo with them were at least five other girls he didn't recognize. Each of them varied in age, and some even looked like they were related to each other──there were two girls who had black hair and red eyes, the older one in particular wore her hair in two long twin tails, and another pair had purple hair, one long and one short. Both girls looked young, but he could tell the long haired sister was probably the oldest of the pair. There was also a blonde woman in a green dress that seemed to be the oldest of the bunch and appeared quite refined.

"Huh."

He wondered who these people were, but since the goddess of Lowee was also in the photo with her sisters, he came to the conclusion that they must have been the other CPUs and their sisters.

"Ah, sorry to keep you all waiting."

Setting down the photo, Shizuki and the others turned their attention to the voice that addressed them. Standing there was a girl wearing a red maid uniform. Her hair color was about the same color as the Lowee sisters, but slightly longer, and her eyes were around the same color. Overall, she appeared to be older than Rom and Ram but younger than IF and Compa.

"I'm glad you were able to arrive quickly... Please, come inside."

The girl spoke politely but sullenly as she went over to the 16 foot doors and opened them. After doing so, she guided them into what looked like someone's bed room. The bedroom was quite spacious as expected. The walls were the same color as the ones in the hallway and on the floor was a red carpet that spread throughout the entire room. In the right side of the room was a large bed with light blue sheets and a comforter, and laying in the bed was a girl with short brown hair.

"..."

It didn't need to be said who it was, yet at the same time, it was kind of surprising to see her in a bedridden state. She was sleeping yet she had a pained expression on her face. Either she was in pain, or she was having a nightmare of some kind.

"What happened?" Asked Mina.

"You see, while she was working, lady Blanc suddenly collapsed. It looks like she's suffering from a typical cold."

"Will she be alright...?" Asked Compa, concerned.

"With enough time and rest, I believe she'll be fine." The maid girl stated with a nod. "However, that's not all..."

"? What else is it?" Asked IF.

"...I think you should follow me."

The maid girl said so in a somewhat severe tone and guided them out of the room. As they were leaving, the bed ridden blanc had begun to shift around the bed and speak in a strained voice.

"R..om... Ram..."

This had caused Tsukamoto to stop for a minute and look back at the ill goddess. Her muttering the names of her sisters was a sign that she still cared about them, and was having a nightmare about them. He couldn't make it out, but he thought he saw tears forming in her eyes. Looking at her now, he was beginning to feel bad about the stuff he said about her not caring about her sisters.

 _("Damn it...")_

They were led down the hall to another large room. The maid girl opened the doors and lead the four inside. It was a spacious office, and in the center of the room was a desk with various papers spread about as well as a lamp and a laptop.

"This is Blanc's office isn't it? Why are we here?"

"I think I should just show you instead..."

Answering IF's question, the maid girl went over the desk and pressed a button on the laptop, causing it to wake out of sleep mode. On the screen it was her inbox and a message had already been opened. But when they saw what was on the screen, their faces paled.

"..!"

In the message was a picture that looked like it was taken in some dark place, like the interior of a vehicle, but the flash of the camera illuminated what was on it. In the photo were two young girls with light brown hair──one long, one short. They both wore the same hat and coat──one pink, one blue, and both of their hands and feet were tied.

The maid girl noted their surprise and continued to speak.

"There was also a video included with the message too."

She scrolled down and clicked on the said video just below the photo.

The video played. Almost immediately, a familiar face appeared, one that garnered hostile feelings from everyone, especially Shizuki.

"Her...!"

 ** _"Wussap F*ckers! Lindabehindacamera here! Just sendin' out a little message to the Tramp of Lowee. Y'see, I normally can't stand working with you goddesses, but in this case I'm gonna make an exception, since I'm gettin' paid big time for this."_**

The voice of a certain underling came through the laptop speakers. Her youtuber-esque intro caused them to cringe.

 _ **"Truth is, a certain CPU paid me big time to kidnap these little twerps of yours. You might be thinkin' 'but we signed a friendship treaty! the console wars ended years ago!' Well, none of that means squat now, cuz this CPU's pretty pissed with you right now. Who's this CPU you might ask? She'll tell you herself."**_

The pale girl grinned as she took out a smartphone with the image of another person. It appeared to be live feed of someone being facetimed. Everyone recognized the person that was in the live feed on the smartphone.

"You can't be serious..."

IF remarked in surprise as she looked at the video. The person was a mature-looking woman with long blonde hair and blue eyes. The rest of her body couldn't be seen, but they could tell she was wearing a green dress of some kind.

Shizuki recognized the woman as the same one that he saw in the photograph with the Lowee sisters and those other girls.

 _("That's the woman from the photo... so I guess she really was a CPU.")_

 ** _"Hello, Blanc. I believe it's safe to say there is no need for introductions, given that we are already quite acquainted with each other. Anyway, I believe you have stolen something from me, and I would like it back."_**

The woman spoke like a refined lady of a wealthy family, but the tone in her voice carried a degree of seriousness and malice that made everyone there, most who knew the person well, gain a chill down their spines.

 ** _"About three days ago, a share crystal was stolen from our basilicom. Leanbox intelligence interrogated some spies we found and discovered that the crystal was stolen by operatives who worked directly under you. The spies said you gave direct orders to steal the crystal did you not? I believe this incident has left us in quite the predicament."_**

The woman sighed and continued.

 ** _"So here is what will happen. If you return the crystal to us, Rom and Ram will be released to you. But if you refuse, I'm afraid I will have no choice but to simply have these two little ones be executed. And after that, we will go to war, and once that happens──"_**

She spoke in a tone of finality.

" ** _──I shan't hold back. I will reduce Lowee to nothing but ash and your people will be enslaved."_**

After that, the facetime feed on Linda's smartphone was cut. Putting the device away, Linda started to speak again.

 ** _"And there's the gist of it. If ya don't hand over the crystal, these little twerps will visit the underworld early. You got 7 hours to get yer ass over here and deliver it to us. Better hurry tramp, I might get bored waitin' around and start roughing up these brats a bit. Oh well. Til' then loser!"_**

The Underling stuck out her middle finger at the camera before the video finally ends. Many questions were on their mind at this point, but with them came a mixture of emotions. A fist suddenly pounded on the desk, causing the maid girl to become slightly startled by it.

"Damn it! What the hell is even this?! This doesn't make any damn sense!"

IF practically shouted, clearly angry and confused about this situation. Compa also wore an expression that was a mix between confusion and worriedness.

"I don't get it either... why would Vert do such a thing?"

"And what the hell is with this Share Crystal crap anyway?! The basilicom doesn't have share crystals lying around anywhere!"

She would know. IF did live in the basilicom and occasionally saw the Leanbox CPU at least twice daily, so it didn't make sense for her to suddenly threaten war and the lives of two children over a share crystal. Not to mention Share crystals were quite rare and were hard to come across. As far as she knew, none of the CPUs or their basilicoms had any in stock.

"Uh, I have a question." Said Shizuki, raising his hand as if he were in a classroom. "That woman in the video, she was definitely a CPU right?"

IF sighed and replied to his question. "Yes, her name's Vert, also called Green Heart. She's the goddess of Leanbox."

"Her? But I don't understand. I thought all of the Goddesses were friends. Is Leanbox on bad terms with Lowee?"

"No," Replied Mina as she shook her head. "It's true that Blanc and lady Vert have a bit a of a rivalry between them, however I do not believe that it would ever escalate to this. Additionally, as Linda mentioned, there was a friendship treaty that was signed several years ago to end all of the hostility brought from the Console wars, however the treaty was abolished under the belief that the goddesses could still be friends even without the treaty. All of them agreed to it, so there should be no reason for this act of hostility."

"And just to clear things up a bit, none of you guys sent people to steal from each other?" Asked Shizuki.

"Heavens, no! We have never done anything of the sort for quite some time. As a matter of fact, there was a treaty that was signed years ago that prohibits all four nations from conducting acts of espionage against one another."

Shizuki frowned. This situation was turning into something more complicated than he thought it would be. From what he understood, Linda was being paid to kidnap Rom and Ram in exchange for a Crystal that based on IF's reaction, didn't exist, and that there were a bunch of treaties that were signed to prevent hostile acts like this toward one another. From this understanding, Vert's current actions and the actions Blanc is accused of committing, were in fact violating those treaties. He didn't know if Blanc even saw the video or if the person making these demands were really Vert, but he knew that if they didn't act soon, Rom and Ram could suffer a terrible fate and Leanbox and Lowee could very well go to war with each other.

"I see. So now what? That freak said we have 7 hours to deliver this crystal to them or else Rom and Ram are finished. What the heck are we going to do? This crystal is obviously a fake and we don't even know where they're being held."

"Actually, I think I might know."

The maid girl stated, scrolling down further on the laptop. beneath the video there were what seemed to be a set of coordinates followed by the message, **'WE'RE HERE.** ' beside it.

"Well aren't they being generous." IF scoffed.

"Financier, could you run a search to see where these lead?"

Mina asked the maid girl, who nodded and put the coordinates into a World Map program on the computer. After a few seconds of loading, the image of a large warehouse came on screen. It was taken from satellite view and it looked like it was just outside the main city, just west from where they were currently at.

"So this is where they are?" asked Shizuki as he looked at the screen.

"This is what the coordinates say they are. I can't know for certain." The maid girl, called Financier replied, uncertain about the validity of them. "Are you going to head out there?"

"You bet we are! I'm just as confused about this situation as you are, but the reason we're in this situation is because of my carelessness. I don't want anything awful to happen to those two because of that. So let's go save them and drag them out of this nasty situation!"

"Yessy!" Exclaimed Compa. "I don't wanna see Rom and ram get hurt, and I really dont want Vert and Blanc to become enemies over a misunderstanding... that wasn't really Vert, was it?"

IF shook her head. "There's no way in hell that was her. That was obviously somebody pretending to be her. But don't you think you two are jumping the gun a bit? This could be some trap for all we know."

"Um," Mina started. "If you are planning to go, then allow me to accompany you."

Tsukamoto looked at her dubiously.

"Are you sure? Those guys might have guns and a bunch of other stuff. Can you fight?"

"I am quite knowledgeable in a variety of combat and self defense spells. I can manage quite nicely."

Mina nodded, a reserved yet confident smile seen on her face. She then turned over to the girl named Financier and said,

"Financier, please go gather a team of Basilicom Guards and prepare their equipment. The operation to save Rom and Ram starts immediately."

"Understood!"

The girl in the red maid uniform stood up and ran out of the office to comply with Mina's order. Noting this, IF spoke.

"Hold on, so we're just going to storm the place with guards?"

"We don't know how many enemies we will be facing, but it is safer to rush in with an army to stop a lone shooter than to rush into a warzone with nothing but your underwear, as the saying goes."

Question marks floated around the trio's heads after hearing that bizarre saying.

 _("Just who the hell came up with that one?")_ Shizuki asked that mentally.

"Besides... I have a plan."

※※※※※

They were in a massive warehouse.

The building could less be called an actual warehouse and more of a factory that has long since been abandoned. It was located just a bit outside the city and was generally left alone, mainly because its existence had been completely forgotten. No one had known what purpose this warehouse/factory had, since a lot of the machinery inside was either gone or completely inoperable. Nevertheless, it was not completely abandoned. Inside the building was at least 15 or so people who were all affiliated with each other in some way.

One of them was a pale girl with red eyes and messy green hair.

"Achoo! Sh*t! Why is there no damn heaters in this place?!"

As Linda walked through the halls of the warehouse, she sneezed and shivered a bit. During her career as a criminal, she always worked in warmer places like Planeptune or Leanbox, so she wasn't used to the cold weather Lowee had to offer. Even so, she still had no right to complain, given that it was in fact her idea to come to Lowee and conduct her criminal activities here.

 _("It's been a while since I nabbed those brats and had my guys email that video. All this waitin' around is startin' to bore me.")_

She had just abducted CPU Candidates Rom and Ram, a feat that she considered too easy. She expected the job to be a lot harder since they spent a good amount of time in the basilicom, or were accompanied by Blanc herself whenever they did leave. And when they were out and not accompanied by Blanc or the other CPUs and their sisters, they were out obtaining shares for the nation by killing bothersome monsters. In essence, kidnapping a CPU Candidate was like trying to kidnap a princess. It took careful timing and planning to make any attempt at kidnapping. To be honest, she was quite surprised that things went the way they did today. Other than the factor of a certain blue haired male appearing out of the blue, it was no matter since he did not seem like a guard and is likely dead at this point.

She went into a room that looked like an old office with a desk and a leather chair inside. She sat in the aforementioned chair and hang her head back, looking up at the ceiling with a bored expression.

 _("Ah well. At least the plan's goin' well. Better than doing all the extra sh*t just to nab those brats. But boy, is that tramp in for a surprise. Heh heh.")_

Linda chuckled to herself as she straightened herself in the chair. She took out a tiny glowing object from her pocket, followed by a black handgun. The object in question looked like a bullet, except it was a dark red color, and it was glowing. If one were to look at it, they would get an ominous vibe from its dark color and dim glow. Whatever that 'bullet' was, it was certainly dangerous.

 _("I got plenty of time to kill. Might as well rough up those two twerps to get me pumped for the main event.")_

As she grinned, Linda put her gun and bullet back in her pocket and gripped an iron pipe that was sitting right beside her desk.

 _("Tonight's the endgame. No more screwin' around, no more being called a filthy peon. From now on, those cunts will call me by my real name. Doesn't matter if I have to get a little extra dirty, I'll be the one running this joint by the time I'm done with em'.")_

She was fed up with it. She was fed up with the CPUs, she was fed up with the people who supported them, and she was fed up with her actions against them being thwarted. But more than that, she was sick of being treated like a joke. They mocked her. They ridiculed her. They humiliated her on some occasions. But this was not limited to the CPUs and their allies, but it was the people she worked with.

Before, she was a criminal that always found herself working for other people much higher than her, and as such, she was always called an Underling or a peon, so much so that even those she worked for and with had started to call her that as well. But that in the past. Now, she was the leader of her own group. She worked for no one but herself.

The Linda International Crime Syndicate. It was a small organization that had begun to gain a significant following within 2 or so months by those who were unsatisfied with the government run by Goddesses. Its premise was simple: to start a revolution against the CPU world order, by spreading the word on the internet that humanity no longer needed goddesses to guide them. They conducted many criminal activities, but because they stuck to the shadows, they were not that popular with the general populace and local authorities only wrote them off as a fringe group that spreads conspiracy theories and as such, not much effort went into dealing with them.

L.I.C.S as it's come to be abbreviated as, had the backing of other parties and groups that were against the CPU run government, which gave them access to some weapons and equipment.

As she contemplated on physically hurting the twins, the door to her office had opened, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Ah, forgive the intrusion Linda."

The person who entered the room was a man named Gideon. He was a man within his 30s, with blue-grey hair that just hung out in a curl style, and around the front to middle while not covering his violet color eyes along with his glasses. He wore a grey-turquoise military jacket with some light brown and white linings on the edges, attached by a tan brown short shoulder cloth with a gold pin and line attach seen across the front. Out of most of the people who joined the L.I.C.S, he was more well mannered and spoken than the rest, which lead the others to think he came from a wealthy family or something along the lines.

"Ah you're not disturbin' anything. What's up Gideon?"

"Yes, our business partner wishes to speak to you."

"Put her through."

Gideon nodded as he took out a cell phone and placed it on a cell phone holder sitting on the desk. On the screen was a beautiful blonde woman with blue eyes. She was easily recognized as Vert - Green Heart, the Goddess of Leanbox. Her surroundings was mostly snow covered trees and it was dusk, which meant that she was somewhere in Lowee right now.

Getting straight to the point, 'Vert' spoke.

 ** _"Did you send the video?"_**

"Sure did. That broad should be storming over here any minute now. And why the hell are you still lookin' like that?!"

 ** _"Oops, my bad."_**

In that moment, 'Vert's' body began to glow a white color, which soon afterwards it began to morph and change into another form. When the glow faded, 'Vert' transformed into a completely different woman. Her long blonde hair was replaced by red hair kept in curls, her blue eyes were now purple, and her clothing was replaced with black armour that shone like enamel. Her voice had also changed when she spoke again.

It was Rosalia, Leader of the Party called Titan's Hand.

 ** _"Is this better?"_**

"Much better than lookin' at the mug of thunder tits." Linda rolled her eyes. "So let's recap, you know what the plan is don't ya?"

 ** _"Indeed. You kidnap Lowee's CPU Candidates, lure White Heart to your base of operations, and then kill her and her sisters with those Chaos energy bullets and that certain toy we gifted you. Afterwards I would disguise myself as Lowee's CPU and blame the entire thing on Green Heart, inciting bloody war between the two nations. Yes, I am quite aware of the specifics~"_**

"And in return, I get to have some more of those sick ass weapons you got so I can smash in the pretty little faces of the other two right?"

Rosalia smirked a bit, answering Linda's question.

 ** _"That was all part of our agreement was it not~? Titan's Hand will guarantee that the Linda International Crime Syndicate gets their weapons for the revolution."_**

"Good! Glad we understand each other."

Linda smiled and leaned back in her chair, putting her feet on the desk while resting her arms behind her head.

 ** _"So where are the Candidates now?"_**

"I threw em' in a room and locked the door. Their hands and legs are tied up so they won't be gettin' out any time soon." Said Linda in a nonchalant manner.

 ** _"I hope you have taken into account of their ability to transform. Ropes and doors mean nothing once they are in those forms."_**

"Don't worry Rosie, I took two of those chaos crystals and tied it onto em'. Those brats won't be transforming."

 ** _"...Please don't call me that."_**

Rosalia's eyes and tone became sharp when she said that, so much so, that Linda felt a chill run down her spine.

"Geez, sorry."

 ** _"No matter. I'm much to excited for the event tonight~ Tonight shall be the night the world that the Goddesses have created finally crumbles apart, for we shall sow the seeds of war and Chaos that will bring forth a new age for humankind!"_**

A twisted smile formed on Rosalia's face. It was the kind of smile one makes that a beast would make in ecstasy of the smell of their prey's blood. It was a smile unbefitting her beautiful features.

 ** _"Hell yeah! Tonight's the night those tramps will show me some respect after I beat the crap outta them!"_**

Linda didn't really care about reforming the world as much as Rosalia did. She just wanted to enact revenge against the CPUs and prove to them and those she once worked for that she was more than just a mere underling.

 ** _"I will be watching from afar. I'll leave the deaths of Lowee's Goddesses to your capable hands~"_**

"Don't you worry! Nobody's gonna stop what's comin'!"

Rosalia smiled before clicking off the live video, resulting in the screen becoming black. After this, Gideon, who had been standing there silently took the phone and spoke again.

"Shall I order our men to prepare for White Heart's arrival?"

"Yeah. You got those bullets don't you? Use em'. I hear one shot from those will completely knock the HDD outta them."

The man named Gideon smirked and nodded. Despite his mannerisms being different from that of the other members, he just as enthusiastic about watching the CPUs fall.

"Then it will be done. I do hope to cut off lady White Heart's head and show it to those brats before slashing their eyes, so that the last thing they see is the head of their tyrant of a sister."

His smirk became a grin. Perhaps he was too enthusiastic.

"Geez, why am I surrounded by edge lords these days?"

Linda only sighed. She hated the CPUs, but even she had to admit that was a bit much for her liking. It wasn't like she wanted to kill all of them. She just wanted to beat them badly so they would realize her as someone other than a lowly underling. So they would fear her, and with that fear came respect, and she wasn't above killing a Goddess or two just to get her point across.

Gideon left the room, leaving Linda alone.

Now all she had to do was wait.

Any moment and the wheels of chaos will be set in motion.

※※※※※

They had reached the compound. They were currently on a hill some ways away from the compound, with trees providing a significant amount of cover for them. It may have taken an hour or so to reach the location, but in the end, they managed. However, it wasn't a simple matter of just going in guns blazing. Two girls were currently being held hostage in that building. If any immediate hostile action is taken on the rescue party's part, it could spell disaster for the twins' well being. There was also a factor of numbers when it came to the enemies. They had no idea how many people were inside, for all they knew, there could be as little as 4 people or as many as 50. Either way, it was risky to pull off this operation without knowing what to expect once they begin.

The rescue party consisted of the Oracle, Nishizawa Mina, who did not seem to be visibly armed, IF who was armed with her shortblades, handguns and other weaponry, Compa, who was armed with 2-foot long Syringe that looked less of a weapon and more of a prop of sorts if anything, and Tsukamoto Shizuki. However, since he had neglected to bring his original weapon, he was instead given a sharp knife. With them came eleven guards from the basilicom, each armed with semi-automatic rifles that used non-lethal pellets in place of bullets and had a halberd strapped to their backs. The guards were there as back up in the event there was an army waiting for them on the other side.

"..."

IF looked at the building through a pair of binoculars. Standing on the roof was a rough looking young man, wearing dark clothes and a military vest. He also had a pair of binoculars as well, which meant he was on look out duty. For whatever reason though, he appeared to have his attention focused on the skies rather than the ground.

"One guy watching over a place like this? They must not have that many people with them."

The place was rather large in size and there was a lot of ground for one to cover. The facility spreading out before them was about two kilometers square. If one wanted to use this building as a base, they would at best have three or four people on look out at different points, allowing more areas to be observed. Instead there was one person that was walking about on the roof and was again, focusing on the sky rather than the ground below. Either the people occupying this place were incompetent, or they didn't have enough people to spare for look out duty.

Growing somewhat impatient, Shizuki spoke.

"So what's this plan of yours?"

"Ah yes," Mina began to explain. "Rushing in as we are now would be much too risky for both ourselves and the sisters, since we have no idea what the situation will be. So, I decided to give us these."

One of the Lowee guards carried a small white box and opened it. Inside were around 16 white devices that looked like bracelets in design. They all had a small red light on them which indicated they were off or inactive in some way.

"What are those?" Asked Compa.

"They are cloaking Bands. When worn, the person will become completely invisible to the naked eye. I contacted a certain person from Planeptune and she was kind enough to send us these prototype cloaking bands."

As she explained, the Loweeian guards took some of the cloaking bands and fitted them onto their wrists. After pressing a button on it, the tiny red light turned green and their figures began to distort and fade into nothingness.

"Woah! They really disappear!" Tsukamoto started, surprised by the sudden event.

"Here, take one."

Shizuki and the two girls went and took three cloaking bands for themselves and placed them on their wrists. IF and Compa performed the same action as the guards did before and they eventually faded into nothingness. Shizuki, the last one to turn his on, did just that and saw his body distort a bit but...

"...Huh?"

He could still see his arms and legs as well as the rest of his body. And not only that, IF, Compa and the guards who became invisible were now completely visible to him. He could see the green light that was on their cloaking bands, which meant that they were still on.

"I don't get it. I can still see you guys. What happened?"

"Ah, I don't quite understand it myself, but the cloaking bands covers a person in a specific light frequency, and those who are both in the same light frequency can also see those wearing the cloak bands. Think of someone throwing a blanket onto someone, then someone threw that same blanket onto you, but now you were both obscured from the public and you could see each other."

Hearing Mina's explanation formed a question mark above his head. He didn't understand it quite well himself, but what he got out of it was that anyone else who wore a cloaking band, could see those who were also fully cloaked by it.

"But we must hurry. These are prototypes that Planeptune gave to us, so their battery power lasts for only 30 minutes."

"So we just go in find Rom and Ram and get out before anyone notices. I get it... but how come you aren't wearing one?"

Shizuki looked at the box that only two remained and not once did Mina reach for one.

"That's because I intend to be the decoy."

Everyone else there looked at each other when she said that. Their expressions ranged from confused to worried, but Mina could not see it. But still, she imagined that was the case and continued speaking.

"Oh don't worry, I do not intend to sacrifice myself or anything brazen like that. Miss IF and 7 guards will accompany me instead while cloaked. Everyone else will find another way in and search for the girls. Plus, I do not think they will attack immediately if they see just me."

Everyone let out a collective sigh of relief when she said that.

"Now, before we start, are there any other questions?"

The oracle asked in a manner a teacher would ask her students, but she couldn't tell if they were raising their hands. When they didn't respond she took that as a no.

And then she gave the command.

"Alright then. Let's be on our way!"

※※※※※

Gideon stood in a dimply lit room where the building's main entrance and exit was located. The room was big with grey walls and floors making it feel like a big dark box. Upon entering, the first thing one would see is a small office area that looked like a receptionist area on the left side of a pair of doors that led further into the warehouse.

With him, there were eight other people of varying ages, wearing black and grey clothing with military vests. There were at least 6 males and two females that made up this group, and each of them carried automatic rifles in their hands. There were about fifteen people who occupied this building, but the remainder of them were in other parts of the building. One of them was standing guard on the roof, and two of them were in a room tied up somewhere.

Even though everyone here looked as if they were ready to go to war, Gideon was unarmed and had a calm look on his face. These others who were armed had expressions that ranged from anger, to fear on their faces, likely because they knew that they were going to fight CPU White Heart.

Gideon noticed a bit of hesitation coming from some of them and spoke up in a clear voice.

"Are you afraid? You have heard the stories of how White Heart mercilessly kills her enemies and attacks those that causes a slight against her right?"

The rough militants of L.I.C.S looked at him and nodded.

"Then you have every right to fear what comes next. No one will blame you if you decide to run away, but before you do please consider this: we are fighting for a world which we can make our own. A world where we do not have to worry about the threats those goddesses bring to our doorstep or being oppressed by their authoritarian rule!"

He spoke with strong conviction in his voice, drawing everyone's eyes ever so more onto him.

"Therefore, we must fight! We must fight with every dying breath in our bodies! We may be only human, and we may not have special abilities, but in numbers we can fight! With the most cutting edge technology, we can win! As long as we work together, we will be victorious!"

 **"YEAH!"**

The group shouted with enthusiasm. Thanks to Gideon's words, their morale had been increased significantly. Despite only being Linda's right-hand man, he gave off a sense of charisma that Linda herself did not have, and thus they respected him for it.

"What say you? Will you stand and fight for the future of Gamindustri? Or will you run away and let all of our efforts be for naught?"

One by one, each of the 8 men and women spoke up, saying things like, "I'll fight", or "I won't run", clearly stating their stance. This caused Gideon to smirk. He couldn't be more proud to serve along side people with such conviction.

Then, the doors leading deeper into the factory opened and a voice called out to him. It was the same person that was keeping watch on the roof for any invaders. He seemed to be panicked and somewhat out of breath from running.

"Yo Gideon!"

"What is it, comrade?"

"Some blue-haired chick is heading this way!"

"A blue haired woman, eh?" Gideon mused, his smirk reforming. "Then she has arrived. Prepare yourselves comrades, the war for our place in this world begins now."

The group raised their weapons and pointed them at the door. The person that just entered took out a hand gun and joined his friends in the standoff. Gideon simply stood there with his hands behind his back looking at the doors with anticipation. And then...

The doors slammed open and in the doorway stood a woman with long blue hair. She wore a pair of glasses and was dressed in red robes over a white dress. She also wore a red cap that gave one the impression that she was a scholar.

"...!"

This was not White Heart.

Instead, it was the Oracle of Lowee named Nishizawa Mina.

Many of them including Gideon realized this fact. Some of those who had never been to Lowee before now simply stood there confused as to why no one was shooting her.

Gideon's smirk turned into a scowl.

"...Why are you here?"

"I assume you are the people responsible for abducting Rom and Ram today correct?"

The oracle spoke sharply.

"Yes. I do believe our boss said that you are to bring us a share crystal in exchange for their safe return."

"Boss? Am I to take that means you work for Underling?"

Mina asked in honest confusion, but Gideon and the group glared at her. Some of them were even resisting the urge to shoot her then and there.

"I suggest you tread carefully, Oracle. Linda is our leader. She has assembled us from all walks of life under the same banner. Call her that again and the safety of the twins will not be certain."

"Ah, my apologies. Judging from your reactions to my coming here instead of lady Blanc, I would guess that you intended to kill her upon arrival. Is that right?"

"..!"

She was correct in that assessment. There was no share crystal that they were after. It was just a ruse to draw out the CPU to come there so she could be attacked. However, they did not expect for the Oracle to be sent to retrieve them as well. This threw a wrench in their overall plan since it was based on the assumption that White Heart would immediately rush there on her own.

("What is this? Of all the things, I never took White Heart to be such a coward.")

"Which also means there was never any share crystal involved from the beginning. This was simply a trick to lure her here, but to what end? Also..."

Mina straightened her glasses as she looked straight at Gideon.

"I believe I recognize you... Gideon, is that you?"

The addressed simply smirked at her words.

"So you finally recognized me, eh Oracle?"

"I don't understand. Why in the world would you take part in this madness?"

"Why?" His eyes narrowed as his tone grew more sharp. "You should have an idea. After all, I used to be one of White Heart's servants."

"Exactly, so why──"

Her question was cut off by Gideon's sudden rant.

"You dare ask me that question?! I, who served her faithfully for Fifteen years, was suddenly terminated from my position! Why? Because I happened to relocate a book while cleaning her quarters! After that, I could not find any other means of employment, I failed to pay the bills because of it, and eventually, My wife abandoned me, left with my son, and I lost my house! I was completely alone, homeless and with nothing but the clothes on my back! But then I found the Linda International Crime Syndicate, and found a place where I belonged! I found comrades who all felt as I did, abandoned by their own Goddesses! I swore that I would help them bring down the mistakes that are the Goddesses and create a new world order where only humans rule! You damned CPU apologists should end yourselves immediately! **You are a disgrace to humanity and Gamindustri as a whole, and we, the hammer of judgement, shall topple upon the loathed dictators!** "

Gideon's eyes were filled with so much anger, they looked almost red and about to burst. He pointed his finger at Mina, who served directly under White Heart.

"You took everything from me! If you pieces of sh*t did not exist, I would still have my family and a comfortable roof over my head!"

After a few moments of silence, Mina softly spoke.

"Gideon... I honestly did not know you went through such hardship after you were let go." She spoke not with contempt, but with understanding. "I am sorry that you lost everything as a result, but you must understand that Rom and Ram had nothing to do with it. They never wished for anyone to be put in such a situation and neither did Blanc."

"..."

"It still isn't too late. Please, return the children back to us. I do not wish for any unnecessary fighting."

"...Never. With every last breath, I will fight. I will not betray the syndicate. The war starts now!"

Mina frowned upon hearing his ultimatum. She genuinely didn't want a fight to break out and wanted to resolve this peacefully. However...

"I see... you leave us with no choice then. If that is your answer, then we too will fight, for their safety."

Having made that declaration, a bright light shone in the Oracle's hands. The light then began to grow and morph itself into a blue and white staff.

And following this, several more people appeared beside Mina. Among them was a girl with long brown hair and a blue coat, wielding two automatic handguns, and seven Loweeian basilicom guards, all armed with semi-automatic rifles that fired non-lethal pellets. All weapons were aimmed at Gideon and the group who were also aiming their guns at Mina and her's. The sudden turn of events caused Gideon to snarl in anger.

"What..?!"

"Nice touching story you have there, but I'm afraid this party ends here."

The brown haired girl, named IF said so whilst smirking, which only infuriated him even more.

 **"KILL THEM! EVERY LAST ONE OF THESE DAMNED APOLOGISTS!"**

As he gave the order, the air was pierced by the loud sounds of Gun gunfire.

And thus, the battle for Gamindustri had begun.

※※※※※

They found their way inside through a back entrance. Not long after making it inside, they heard the distant sounds of a man shouting followed by gunfire and other dangerous sounds, coming from the main entrance. Members of the L.I.C.S ran past them, all armed with automatic rifles with live ammo. Under normal situations, they would have been attacked by the passing thugs for walking into their base of operations unannounced, however, they were completely hidden from the naked eye thanks to the devices they were wearing that concealed their presence. Because they were all wearing the same cloaking tech, they could also see each other, which gave them an advantage, and prevented confusion as to where everyone's position were.

They had about twenty five minutes left until the Cloaking Bands ran out of power. Which means they had to find the twins and get out quickly. Two Loweeian Basilicom Guards uncloaked themselves and called out to four of the passing militants and opened fire on them. two of them tried to aim their weapons, but reacted too slowly and were hit by the non lethal pellets the guns used for ammo. The other two L.I.C.S members got into cover behind a wall in the halls and exchanged fire with them. Shizuki, Compa and the two remaining guards with them ran past the storm of lethal and non lethal bullets as they ran down the hallways, trying their best to avoid getting hit by either one.

They turned left and continued to run. As they did, two more L.I.C.S members came out of a room armed with black handguns. Wanting to take the initiative, Tsukamoto picked up his speed a little bit and ran towards one of the L.I.C.S Members. They couldn't see him, but he could see them clearly. Without stopping, the poor hoodlum ran straight into Shizuki's fist which was raised, effectively clotheslining him and knocking him out cold. The other guy that was running right next to him stopped with surprise, having no idea what happened. Before he could properly react, one of the two guards, de-cloaked herself and shot him with the pellet ammo, knocking him out as well.

After following her example, the others de-cloaked as well. They wanted to conserve as much energy as they could for the Cloaking bands, and wearing them continuously would only drain them further. It was best to save it for another time.

Shizuki shook his hand, feeling a slight pain from punching a person in the face while running at practically full speed.

"With these cloaking things, it almost feels like we're cheating."

"Hey kid, we're going to backup those other guys we left behind and make sure this area is secured. Will you two be okay?"

The male Loweeian guard asked, while checking the hoodlum's pulse to see if he was still breathing.

"Yeah... I think we can manage. Right, Compa-san?"

"Yessy, we'll be fine!"

The guard nodded in response and said, "The best of luck to you then." And after that, both he and his comrade left and ran back to support the others.

After they left, the two continued down the hallway until they came across another corridor.

Tsukamoto let out a sigh.

"Now comes the hard part... actually finding them."

On the right side of the corridor were a set of six doors and one at the end of the hall. On the left side, there were an even greater number of doors and a part that looked like it led into an office of sorts. They couldn't see inside due to the blinds on the outside windows, but the lights were on, which meant that someone else was currently inside.

"Man, this is definitely not my day..."

"W-Which one do we look in first?" Compa asked, feeling almost as overwhelmed by the number of doors as Tsukamoto.

"Let's just check all of them as we go along. I want to check the right corridor first. I don't know why, but I have a feeling they're in one of these doors."

"O-Okay!"

And so while every one else was fighting a fierce battle with guns and other dangerous weapons, Shizuki and Compa had their own battle at the moment. It felt a bit overwhelming, but nothing would begin by doing nothing. So they began their search, and did so diligently in order to avoid any unforeseen dangers.

※

The room was dark. It was relatively small and there were no lights to illuminate their surroundings. On the cold floor laid two young twins, both restrained by ropes tightly bounding their wrists and ankles. Around their necks were glowing red gemstones of some kind which were seemingly the cause of their weakened state.

"Mm..."

The sister named Ram was the first to awaken, after being asleep for some hours now. Her body was in some pain due to the stones tied around their necks via, collars and thus she could barely move. As she turned her head toward her sleeping sister she could feel the strength starting to sap from her body.

"R..Rom... Rom...!"

"Mn..."

The sister named Rom slowly opened her eyes, hearing the voice of her sister call out to her. She too felt her body being drained of strength with the same kind of stone tied around her neck.

Wh...where are we..?"

"I..I dunno... it's so dark..."

The twins looked around their surroundings, but saw nothing but darkness. The only light that came through was the lights that were beyond the door of the room they were trapped in.

"Mngh... can't transform..."

A faint white glow momentarily appeared around Rom, but it quickly faded away.

"It's these stupid collars...! They're making us weak..."

They wanted to reach their necks and rip off those stones attached to their collars, but the ropes that bound their hands behind their backs prevented them from doing so. Also, their energy was being drained enough to the point where moving caused them pain.

With the severe nature of their situation finally beginning to settle into their minds, tears began to form in Rom's eyes.

"We...We shouldn't have yelled at Blanc and ran away like that..." She started to cry. "B-But because we did... we ended up like this... a-and now we might never see Blanc again..."

"C-C'mon Rom, don't say such depressing stuff! Though you're probably right it's our fault we're in this mess..."

"I..I wanted to apologize to her and show her all of those coins we found..."

"M-Me too... I..I also wanted to apologize to sis!"

An uncontrollable feeling of despair washed over the twins as both of them were now crying at this point. Normally, these two were brimming with some degree of confidence, no matter what threat they faced, even when separated, they always managed to stay strong and overcome any obstacle that came their way.

But now, that confidence that they were known for having was all but eroded away. They were unable to use their powers. They could not free themselves, and more than that, their life was slowly being drained away.

Chaos Energy could be called the evil or darker counterpart of Share Energy, and like Share Energy, it also appeared in a crystallized form. If a goddess was in close proximity to one or more of these Chaos Crystals, their power would drastically weaken, and if they were to come into skin contact, it would hurt them. Since Rom and Ram were wearing these around their necks, it was practically touching them, and it was causing them great pain. And not only that.

It was slowly killing them.

With the basic knowledge of these crystals and what they can do, they were overcome with a sense of dread, and with that dread came the current wave of despair they were feeling.

They didn't want to die. They couldn't bear the thought of not seeing their beloved older sister and all their friends ever again.

Even the face of a certain blue haired youth who they had only known for a best an hour, floated in the back of their minds.

And so they cried.

They cried out of fear of the idea of never seeing their loved ones again.

They cried out of despair for being so powerless.

And most of all, they cried out of regret for how they treated their sister.

Just when all hope seemed to have been lost, in the dark wave of despair...

 ***Bang***

"...?"

They slowly turned their heads to face the door of the room they were being held in. In their despair, they thought they had heard the sound of something slamming against it.

 ***Bang* *Bang***

Two more impacts were made onto the door, causing slight movement. This seemed to have startled the girls as they had no idea who or what was causing it. As their minds began to wonder about that, a final sound was heard and this time, the sound of something breaking, followed by the door swinging open greeted them.

Since they had been unconscious and in the dark for a considerable amount of time, the sudden light shining on them was a bit rough on their eyes, causing them to squint a bit.

Initially, they thought that the person that knocked the door open was their sister who had come to their rescue, but as their vision was becoming adjusted to the light, they were able to make out the outline of the figure that was standing in the doorway.

It was not Blanc.

It was someone they were not expecting to see again.

※

Shizuki and Compa had checked all 6 doors on the right side of the corridor. All they found were either storage closets or completely empty rooms with no one inside. This only left one more room which they had yet to check.

The Seventh Door at the end.

Tsukamoto turned the nob to open it but had discovered that it was locked, meaning someone didn't want anyone to go looking around in there. Further more, he thought he had heard crying on the other side which confirmed his vague feeling that they were indeed in this area of the facility. With no time wasted, he slammed his shoulder against the door but it didn't budge. After three more tries, he finally managed to bust the door open, breaking off the lock in the process.

When he looked inside, it looked like just a typical storage closet with two shelves, some cleaning supplies and a broom in the left corner. But that wasn't what caught his eye. Sitting on the floor were two twins with light brown hair, their arms and legs restrained by some kind of rope. Looking at their faces, they had a look of surprise which told him they weren't expecting him to be there, and also, their eyes appeared red, indicating that they were indeed crying not so long ago.

While holding his left shoulder that was hurting from his attempts at opening the door, Shizuki gave the two a kind smile and said,

"Heya. Sorry for the long wait, a lot's happened since earlier, but in the end, we managed to make it here just in time."

"Mister... Shizuki...? H..How did you...find us?"

Asked Rom in a shaky voice. Tsukamoto went over to her and pulled out the knife he was given to defend himself with. Rather than use it for its intended purpose, he brought the blade to the ropes around Rom's ankles and started to cut them loose.

"Well, I'd be happy to explain all the itty-bitty details about how we found this place, but at the moment I'd like to focus on getting you two out of──"

Shortly after cutting the rope, he paused for a second. He noticed the dark red stone that was giving off a faint yet ominous glow, connected to the collar around her neck. He looked over at Ram who also wore a similar thing.

Shizuki didn't know what these things were, but he felt that they were somehow responsible for their rough condition.

"Hey Compa-san, what are these things around their necks?"

"Hm?"

The addressed, who was standing in the door way came inside to get a closer look at what he was talking about. Then, she let out a small gasp once she did see it.

"Shizu-kun, you have to take those off right away! Those crystals can kill goddesses..!"

"What? seriously?"

He looked at the two girls they came to save. Their breathing was heavy, their bodies were getting hot, and it seemed that every small movement pained them. Further more, it looked as though they were struggling to keep their eyes open at this point.

He didn't understand what those crystals were, but based on the urgency in his friend's voice, he decided not to question it further, at least not now. He quickly took off the collars on both sisters and threw them out into the hallway. After doing so, he proceeded to cut loose the rest of their restraints. Upon closer inspection, he could see the color in their faces returning, albeit slowly.

Upon being freed from their restraints, the twins started to stand up, weakly though, as shown by their legs somewhat wobbling as they stood.

"Hey, can you guys even stand?"

"Heh, we'll be fine mister... we're goddesses after all."

Ram smiled weakly, attempting to give off her usual confident attitude despite her leaning up against the closet's wall. After a minute or so of trying to regain their strength, the four eventually left the closet and made their way down the hall. They had plans to go out through the exit they came from rather than find the main entrance since they could still hear the sounds of battle going on there.

Since the twins couldn't run, the group was unable to move very fast, still, they managed to put a bit more pace in their walking. Just as they were about to turn the corner, the door to the office in the left corridor had opened, and out came an all-too familiar person, swearing at seemingly nobody.

"Sh*t! What the hell is goin' on?! That tramp didn't show up?! What kind of bullsh*t is this?! Sending that damn oracle and her goon squad here really shat on my plan! Can this night get any wor──"

The pale girl named Linda made eye contact with Shizuki and the three girls with him. In that moment, her left eye began to twitch. She didn't know how to react to this situation. It seems that not only was she informed of the situation that was happening at the main entrance, but now the twins were free, and to top that off, a person she thought she killed was still alive and well.

"...How the hell is this happening? I shot you dead!"

"Heh, if you really wanted to kill me, you should've gone for the head instead. I'm pretty sure even I can't come back from that."

Shizuki smiled a bit as he started to assess Linda's current situation. So far, she didn't appear to be armed, but given what happened last time, she could pull out that pistol and shoot him like she did last time.

"The jig's up miss Underling! Give up now or we'll go all mid-level on you!"

The strange wording of Compa's demand caused Shizuki to raise an eye brow.

"Um, I think you mean, medieval..."

"Medieval on you!"

Linda's eye twitched some more. What little patience she had was now being slowly ebbed away.

"How many times to I gotta tell you rejects, that ain't my name?!"

She pointed at the group and continued speaking.

"The name's Linda! Leader of the Linda International Crime Syndicate! If you morons can't remember it, I'll beat it into your skulls so badly, that'll be the only thing you'll ever remember!"

Tsukamoto let out a light sigh and donned a serious expression.

"Alright then Linda, tell me. Why are you doing all of this? The kidnapping, the share crystal crap, your hostility towards the goddesses, what's the deal?"

"Heh, you wanna know why I'm doin' all this?"

Linda spoke in a low voice. As she did, her face donned a full scowl.

"It's because those cunts never take anything seriously! I spent half my damn life being made a laughing stock by everyone around me because of how different I looked from everyone else! CPU's are supposed to protect everyone right? Nobody was there to protect me from those asshole kids that threw rocks at me! Why do you think I turned to a life of crime?"

Her scowl had turned into a cynical grin.

"I wanted respect. I wanted those rejects to respect me so I would no longer be the freak of the week, but to do that I had to make people fear me. That's why I joined some of the baddest organizations out there and did work for em', so I could build up that rep. I wanted to grab the world by the balls, but then those damn goddesses came and ruined everything over and over again!"

Linda slammed her fist against the wall, causing a loud sound to vibrate off of it. She kept a nasty glare on the four as they continued to listen to her rant.

"That pissed me off. Pissed me off more than ever. Those trollops were never there for rejects like me, and only cared about their own interests! And to make it even worse, even they started mockin' me! They kept calling me Underling, Peon, pointy ears and other shit! Hell, one of those cunts even tortured me and left me mentally scared for at least a month!"

"..."

"Those CPU's are nothin' but rotten to the core bitches who act like sweet sunflowers who can do no wrong. Just lookin' at their mugs makes me wanna vomit! But that all ends tonight."

Linda spoke with a tone of finality as she declared her ultimatum.

"Tonight's the night the CPU's and everyone else that kisses their asses learn my name. Sure, the plan's gone to sh*t because of you rejects, but I can still kill a CPU or two. If that's what it's gonna take to prove that I'm not just a sh*t stain on a wall, then I'll do just that! That's why I created the L.I.C.S in the first place!"

After fuming over the events that was taking place, she could no longer restrain herself. The words had started to pour from her mouth like a water fall, and with each word she spoke, the more motivated she became. To be honest, she didn't even know why she was telling these people all of this. She normally would have just ran off and tried to escape, but getting all of it out felt good to her.

She would continue.

She would fight.

She would try to prove herself and to be remembered as someone that was not beneath the common masses.

In the end, she wanted to be treated equally and respected like everyone else.

But despite that...

Her honest words were met with a scoff.

"Are you kidding me? That's your reason for doing all of this?"

"?"

"Respect? Fear? Stop kidding around! Kidnapping and killing people isn't going to make you a respectable person! All you're doing is running around, acting like a thug while begging for people to notice you! That isn't respectable, that's pathetic! I'm not going to pretend that I know a lot about this world, because I don't, that's why I've been traveling with Compa-san and the others to learn about it and to see things and meet different kinds of people."

Shizuki looked Linda in the eye with his own fire.

"I never met all of the goddesses, so I don't know a lot about their personalities other than what I've been told, but I do know this: They aren't the villains you're painting them to be! If they were as rotten to the core as you say, no one would be supporting them as they do now! If anyone's rotten, it's you! I can understand where you're coming from. After all, I also spent part of my life being ridiculed for being different, and grew up being disappointed by people I thought I could count on. But not once did I want to harm them just to prove a point!"

"..."

"The Goddesses aren't superheroes who can just swoop in and save the day at everyone's convenience all the time, even they must have limits. But still, those people are trying their damn hardest to make everyone in their nations happy as best as they can be! Even if it means spending less time with the people they love, it's all worth it if they can maintain a world for them to exist in peacefully!"

With his gaze fixated on the pale girl, he raised his index finger and pointed it directly at her.

"And If you think you can just vilify them for wanting to maintain that peaceful world, then with my own two hands, **I'll take that misguided conception of yours and grind it into dust!** "

Those were his honest words. He may have disliked the world he came from to some degree, but he never wanted to prove himself to anyone. In his mind, he had nothing to prove and had a desire to disappear from it all because he felt as though he never belonged there to begin with. He was truly the kind of person who knew when and where he was welcome or unwelcome.

He had once had a sour impression on Blanc after hearing how she handled turning down her sisters' request to go to the amusement park, but after seeing her in that sickly state, calling out their names, he had thought about it some more.

She genuinely loved her sisters as they did her, even if she was too busy to be with them. The twins may not have fully understood what the role of a goddess entails, but she did, and with such a role, came certain sacrifices. But, she had only made those sacrifices because she had the future and well being of her sisters and the people of Lowee in her mind.

Sure, she may have had a difficult or strange way of showing it, but in the end, she was not a bad person.

And nothing else ticked him off more than rotten people who attacked good people who tried so hard. That's why he found Linda's motives unacceptable.

But...

"Haha...Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha! Oh man! That's quite a speech buddy! You almost had me there. But look here pal..."

After holding her sides, laughing, Linda's expression once again turned into an ugly scowl.

"...I didn't ask for your opinion you damn peasant."

"!"

Before Shizuki and the others could react, Linda pulled out a small object from her back pocket. It was a smoke grenade. She pulled the pin and dropped it to the floor, causing a sea of smoke to appear, shrouding everything from view.

"Cough...cough...Compa-san! Rom! Ram!"

He called out the names of the three girls who were with them, but he could no longer see them. he could also hear them coughing profusely from inhaling the smoke from Linda's smoke grenade. As he attempted to find them in the smoke, he had heard what sounded like a door closing.

 _("What the hell was that? Don't tell me she escaped into one of those doors!")_

If that was the case, chasing after her would be a real pain, especially with all the smoke that was still around. Tsukamoto was starting to contemplate on whether he should just go after her and try to figure out what room she fled in or just cut his losses and retreat. Eventually, he decided to do the latter since breathing in this much smoke was bad for their lungs, especially since Rom and Ram were still weak from the chaos energy crystals.

"Forget it let's just get out of here!"

Shizuki started to move toward the corridor where they originally came from. he was starting to see the outline of the others as the smoke was gradually clearing up. They were heading in that direction as well.

But as he was on his way, he felt an all-too familiar tingling sensation in his head. This time, it was much stronger than it had ever been.

 _("Great, what now?!")_

In that same instance, the floor behind him was suddenly torn apart as if a hurricane had come and blown it away. The force of this was powerful enough to knock Shizuki onto the floor since he was standing the closest to it. He looked at the big hole in the floor and heard movement. Without warning, a massive arm reached out from the dark pit and grabbed onto the floor as another arm came out and did the same.

He could see a massive, bulky figure pull itself out of the pit, while the sounds of machinery reverberated from it. Once it was fully out of the pit, the massive 'Thing' stood up and gazed upon the blue-haired youth, with eyes that were glowing red orbs. It was many times larger than a human, at least 15 feet in height, and it had what looked like a horn shaped appendage on its head. Shizuki couldn't tell if the 'thing' was artificial or a biological creature due to the smoke, but one thing was certain:

Any hostility it had was going to be directed at him.

"Oh... this is **definitely** not my day."

 _ **Episode 4:**_

 ** _L.I.C.S (Linda International Crime Syndicate)_**

* * *

Afterword

It looks like It came out sooner than normal. It's nice to see that I'm improving on updating. If I keep it up, More eps will come out sooner. Anywho, welcome new readers and welcome back, for those who read the previous eps. I'm "Kino-san". Now, onto the review.

As you can see, this episode is very different from the previous one, as promised there would be a bit more going on in this one. This whole Lowee incident was going to be resolved here, but I realized that what I had planned would make this entry longer than necessary, so it will be resolved in the next one. As such, that also explains the name change. So, Linda has evolved from being an underling to being the leader of her own fringe group of sorts as part of a crusade against the CPUs. Originally, she was going to be a bit of a one note antagonist, but I decided a bit more depth to make her at least somewhat sympathetic. Given how she's treated in the games and anime, her motivations were easy to build from there, and also some small hints about her past, in this story.

Overall, This had quite a bit more going on in the other eps' and the next one will be action packed as everyone will now be fighting a giant thing that may or may not be a robot of some kind. Stay tuned for Episode 5: NASHORN X-1-Z.

This has been Kino, and I lay my pen down for the night.

...Rom and Ram was supposed to be a bit more active in this ep.


	5. Episode 5: NASHORN X-1-Z

_**Episode 5:**_

 _ **NASHORN X-1-Z**_

The sounds of gunfire rang out. In just mere moments, the abandoned warehouse that had been occupied by 15 people had been transformed into a warzone for the sake of Gamindustri's future. One side was fighting for a world without goddesses, and the other side just wanted to save two innocent children. One side wanted to kill, the other wanted to save.

For several minutes, these two groups of people exchanged gunfire with the other with bodies occasionally hitting the ice cold floor, some bleeding out and some simply laying there unconscious.

The last person had fallen to the ground. In the end, the side that wanted to save were the ones who were standing victorious. This was simply because they had more skilled people on their side as opposed to the others who only knew how to point, aim and shoot their guns.

Five people wearing the same uniform stood ready with their guns trained on the one other person still standing, and with them were two females, a brown haired girl in a blue coat, named IF and a blue haired bespectacled woman in red robes named Nishizawa Mina. IF wielded two semi-automatic handguns and Nishizawa wielded a white and blue staff as their weapons.

The fight was relatively easy to win. Their enemies were not trained soldiers nor did they possess any special weapons that would catch them off guard. Mina used a phenomena called "magic" to erect a barrier of sorts for her people so they would not be open targets for their enemies to shoot up. Granted this did not fully protect them as they lost two other men in the fire fight, but it did help turn the tide of the battle. IF was the most agile and nimble person there, so she could avoid getting shot and shoot enemies in the knee or hands while also using blunt strikes to their open spots to render the militants immobile.

Overall, all of the militants were defeated and not a single one was killed.

However...

"No... No no no no no no NO! This can't be happening!"

Said the only man standing while running his hand through his grey-blue hair. He was a thirty-something year old man with glasses and a grey-turquoise military jacket.

His name was Gideon and he as the leader of an organization called the L.I.C.S.

Or rather a secondary leader of sorts who served as the real leader's right hand man.

"Comrades! Stand! We can still continue the fight! Our human led utopia is not out of reach just yet!"

Gideon shouted at his fallen warriors as if he were begging for their help. But no matter how much he shouted, they would not stand.

"It's over Gideon. Please surrender."

Said Nishizawa Mina as she pointed her staff at him.

"Your men have already fallen, and a second team has entered the building during our fight and has likely located and rescued Rom and Ram. I do not know where your leader has gone off to, but it is likely she has already abandoned you and fled this place."

Gideon continued rubbing his hands through his hair as if he was trying to pull it all out. He ground his teeth in anger so much, that they could be heard rubbing up against each other.

"No! I refuse to let this stand! The syndicate's cause will not fall here! If Linda has fled, then all the better! As long as she is out there, the cause will never die and others will succeed where we have failed!"

IF sighed, crossing her arms. "You don't seriously believe that, do you? That peon never cared about starting a revolution or any crap like that. She just wants to settle her petty grudge with the CPUs and is using you guys as cheap pawns."

"And?! The reason we are all doing this is because we have grudges against those wretches! As long as that thread holds us together, I don't care about being used!"

At that moment, the fanatic opened his military jacket to reveal several devices strapped to his person. The sight of this caused nearly everyone there to widen their eyes with surprise.

They knew what this was.

Bombs.

Gideon took out a small device from his pocket and held it in his right hand. It was black and it had a red button on it.

It didn't take a genius to imagine what he was planning to do.

"Gideon... why would you go so far? Do you really hate Blanc that much?" Mina spoke in a voice of confusion and pleading.

"I have nowhere else to go beyond this. I can never return to the life I had before that bitch took everything from me! My wife... my son... my home... I lost it all because of her! With this in mind, I do not care if I live or die, but if doing this means that witch's downfall, then I can die happily knowing that I've taken at least a few CPU loyalists with me to hell!"

A twisted smile formed on his face. His thumb inched ever so closer to the red button.

"And these bombs strapped to me are not the only explosives here. We placed other bombs all over this facility in the event that this place somehow became compromised. We were gracious enough for Titan's hand and their weapons Liaison to give us these magnificent explosives!"

 _("Titan's Hand?")_

The name had caused IF to raise an eyebrow. She knew this name all too well. After all, it was associated with the red haired woman that tried to kill her and her friends a couple days ago.

"So a gang of rats is making deals with another gang of rats. Why am I not surprised?"

Despite IF's dry remark, Gideon continued to smile.

"Hah, you may say whatever you like about them, but you should really fear the people they get their weapons from. These people are much bigger and far more dangerous than both of Titan's Hand and L.I.C.S combined. You CPU loyalists should be lucky they have not come to end you personally themselves!"

"Oh really," replied IF. "Care to tell us who these guys might be?"

"I would tell you, but I am sworn under an oath of secrecy to never give their name. Besides..."

His thumb moved closer to the detonation button.

"...You will be too dead to care!"

"!"

In that instant, Nishizawa Mina swung her staff, sending a blast of wind to Gideon's direction. The wind blast caught him completely off guard and knocked the detonation device out of his hand, the sound of an object hitting and sliding across the floor rang out as the device fell to the ground. IF took this opportunity to rush toward him and deliver a powerful knee to his abdomen.

"Guh..! Achk...!"

Holding his stomach, Gideon stumbled forward and fell face first onto the floor.

He was unconscious.

"Geez, I hate dealing with crazies like that. What the hell is this third group he was talking about anyway?"

From what she gathered from his ramblings, the L.I.C.S had made deals with Titan's Hand who sold them weapons that came from another third party, one that was even bigger than Rosalia's party and Linda's organization combined. She had a sneaking suspicion that Titan's hand was some how involved in this incident and that they were trying to make it look like they had no involvement by attempting to frame Green Heart for it somehow. While this was somewhat troubling to hear, it was really the third unidentified party that had her more concerned. She didn't know why, but she had a feeling these people were as dangerous as Gideon said, if not even more so, but she had no evidence to back that up.

She thought back to the strange man in black she saw speaking with Gust hours ago. Ever since she saw him, she had a bad feeling about him. He reeked of blood and had a presence of someone that should be avoided no matter what. Looking back on it, she could have sworn she felt a pair of cold eyes gaze down on her as they passed each other. She had hoped that that man wasn't involved in this chaos but for some reason, she had an eerie feeling that he was indeed involved somehow.

After looking down on the fallen fanatic, IF heaved a sigh.

"Anyway, it looks like we're done here, so let's join up with Compa and the others."

Mina nodded in agreement. "Yes. I would hope that they have found Rom and Ram by now. If they have, then we should leave as soon as──"

Before they could proceed, they heard a loud noise come from deeper inside the warehouse.

It was the sound of something being destroyed.

※※※※※

Tsukamoto Shizuki could not move.

After coming across the likes of the Cave Dweller and monstrous Gleam Eyes, he thought that he would gain more of a backbone to this kind of thing. But apparently that was not the case. He may have had a regeneration ability, a pair of eyes that can destroy souls, and a "danger sense" of sorts, but Tsukamoto was at his core, a normal highschool student.

He never even encountered another Esper and witnessed their destructive power in person or fought in a war zone with people shooting at him, much less face off against towering monsters that would crush him in an instant. This was a lifestyle he was not used to and quite frankly, it would be a while before he even felt comfortable just watching one from a far.

"Oh... this is definitely not my day."

As the smoke cleared, he could see the massive 'thing' that burst through the floor and stood before him more clearly.

He could only describe it as a giant mech of some kind. It was at least 15 feet in height and it had a bulky appearance which made it even more intimidating to look at. The machine was mostly blue with some black in some of the joints. It had a pair of red eyes and its most notable feature was something that looked like a horn on it's head. This gave him the impression of that of a Rhinoceros.

One thing was certain: It was not friendly, and it was going to kill him.

"Well? What do you think, peasant? This baby's called the «NASHORN X-1-Z»! Pretty badass right?"

A loud booming voice came from the colossal machine. Shizuki recognized the voice pattern as Linda's but it sounded different somehow. The voice was much deeper, and it had an echo effect that gave it an even more intimidating presence.

 _("Shit! How the heck am I gonna deal with this?! Even if I wanted to use those eyes to resolve this, they wouldn't work if the person's body is obscured by that giant suit!")_

His mystic eyes would not work in this case. A long time ago, he made it a personal rule to never use them against a human being no matter how dire the situation became, but even if he were ever pushed to a point where he would forgo that one rule, it would not serve him well here. He was partly glad that he wasn't going to be able to use them in this situation, but at the same time he felt completely powerless.

There was nothing he could do.

The best he could do is run away.

he considered calling IF to inform her of the situation, but before he could reach for his phone, the suit moved.

It raised its fist upward.

"What's wrong reject? What happened to that badass tough guy act?!"

The fist suddenly came down at the speed of lightning to crush him. Unable to move, Tsukamoto simply closed his eyes and shielded himself with his arms, bracing for the inevitable attack.

But...

"?"

The fist never hit him. Instead, it made a 'clank' sound as if it hit something else.

Shizuki opened his eyes to see that there was some kind of energy field between him and the Nashorn suit. When he looked around for whatever caused this phenomena to occur, Shizuki saw three familiar people standing behind him, two of them who were now armed.

There stood Rom and Ram wielding what looked to be two white staffs with bits of their respective colors on them, both of which were aimed at Tsukamoto's direction. The two young girls looked tired, as they were breathing heavily, and their legs were shaking slightly from just standing there. Their strength was returning, but it was still far from ideal. He also saw Compa who was standing there with the twins as well.

"What are you guys doing?! I thought I said get out of here!"

"Sorry mister...but there was no way we were letting this creep hurt you..! replied Ram.

"Y-Yeah..!" replied Rom.

Before Shizuki could think of a reply, Linda spoke again in a deep mechanized voice.

"Aw, how cute. If you wanna die together, I can arrange that as well!"

The fist was raised again. This time, Shizuki didn't waste any time as he scrambled to his feet and got out of the fist's path, while it smashed straight through the energy wall the twins put up and tore into the floor.

The blow somehow caused a feedback reaction as the twins suddenly fell to their knees after the wall was destroyed.

"Hahaha! If that's all it took to knock you twerps down, smashing your faces in is gonna be so easy!"

Tsukamoto ignored Linda's comments and went over to the twins to check on them.

"Hey, you okay?"

"M-Mhm... I'm fine..." The quietest twin smiled weakly an nodded.

Heavy footsteps reverberated and shook the ground. The Nashorn was coming their way.

"Hold still you twerps! The fun's just startin'!"

"We can't stay here. We have to leave!"

With the impending threat standing before them, Shizuki picked up Rom and rose to his feet, catching her by surprise.

"Let's go!"

"Yessy!"

Compa nodded as Shizuki started to run down the hall. She carried Ram on her back and followed the others down the hallway. As they turned left, they could hear heavy footsteps quickly pursuing them along with a voice.

"Just where do you think you're goin'?"

While they ran, they had spotted the Basilicom guards that had remained behind to take care of the lingering L.I.C.S Members trying to join the fray at the front entrance. The guards were at first wondering why they were running so fast, but then they soon received their answer. The Nashorn came in from around the corner and continued to chase the four, catching the guards by surprise for a bit, but then they quickly snapped out of their stupor and began to fire their weapons at it. However, their bullets were non-lethal rounds, which meant that they could not even scratch the armor.

But still, they knew that rescuing the twins was their highest priority and were willing to put their lives on the line for their goddess. The attacks were meant as a means to slow down the behemoth so the others could escape. However...

"Get lost you damn pests!"

The Nashorn charged forward and swung its right arm, which swatted away the female guard into a wall like she were an insect, then proceeded to bring down its left arm like a hammer to smash the male guard into the floor. The remaining guards that stayed behind opened fire once more in their attempt to slow down Linda's assault. After coming to a full stop, the suit's left forearm deployed a Gatling gun, which opened fire upon them, tearing apart their fragile bodies and killing them instantly. Shizuki and the others didn't look back and instead continued running. The exit was just a bit further. If they kept going, they would be out.

But that hope was crushed. before they realized it, a missile was launched from the Nashorn's right forearm and hit the ceiling in front of them, causing it to collapse and block off their path.

"Damn!"

There was another corridor just left of them. Tsukamoto had no idea where it led, but anywhere else was better than running in a direct path of that giant suit.

"Let's go this way instead!"

The two while carrying the twins made a beeline for the two doors that were right in front of them. Linda for some reason was not shooting them or picking up her pace. She was enjoying playing cat and mouse with them and was not even taking them seriously at this point.

"Run run run, as fast as you can! You ain't gettin' away from me! Hahaha!"

They ran through the doors, and entered what looked like the main area of the warehouse. It was a dark room with the only lighting available was the moonlight coming through the windows on the roof. There were dozens of large crates and containers laying around, stacked ontop of each other, making it look like a small city inside the massive building. Above them were what looked like assembly lines that appeared to no longer function, and the machinery that made it up has long since been rusted.

They decided to split up as they heard the heavy footsteps loom ever so closer to their position. Shizuki, carrying Rom went over to the left side of the room and hid behind one of the containers while Compa, carrying Ram, went right and hid behind a container as well.

The sound of something breaking was heard as the two doors along with some of the surrounding wall was flown off. The Nashorn X-1-Z entered the dark room and looked around its surroundings. Despite losing sight of them, Linda donned a grin.

"Heh heh, twerrps, come out and plaaaayyy!"

Linda said so in a sing-song tone with a deep voice that did not match it. She could see the main exit in front of her, but it didn't look like they went through it. They weren't fast enough to make it that far in mere seconds, which meant that they were still in this room. With this in mind, Linda continued speaking.

"Don't tell me you're scared of little ol' me! The poor underling you tramps mocked for years, now kicking your asses like never before! Ironic ain't it?"

She stepped forward.

"I was the butt end of your jokes, had my ass handed to me every time I thought I found a way to beat you losers, and then ran away. But this, is it. This ain't gonna go like those other times. This time, I'm gonna beat you stinkin' goddesses into the dirt and laugh while I do it!"

Shizuki sat on the floor with his back pressed against the container he was hiding behind, all while holding Rom close to him.

 _("Damn it. What are we going to do? The exit's right down there but we can't just rush through! We'll get torn up or blown to pieces the second she sees us!")_

They needed something to distract her. Something that would divert Linda's attention while they made a beeline for the exit. IF and the others should also been in a room beyond those doors, so they should hear what's happening if things did go south. Tsukamoto tried to look for something they could use, but found nothing.

 _("Shit, I know I wanted to live a normal life without these powers of mine, but in situations like this, I really wish I had some other power that protects instead of kills, or at least a useful weapon that can stand up to stuff like that.")_

After the gleam eyes incident, this was the kind of situation he wanted to avoid getting himself into. At least then, he had his wooden sword that gave him a sense of security and was also in the presence of other skilled people like IF, but now they had neither at the moment, and all they could do was run and hide while praying to find a way out without the enemy noticing.

 _("If this is going to be a regular thing, I might have to reconsider my decision of staying in this world...")_

As his thoughts continued to pile up inside his head, Linda continued to speak from inside the armored suit.

"You turds can't hide for ever y'know? Sooner or later, I'm gonna find you!"

They suddenly heard a loud sound. A missile was fired from the suit's arm and made contact with a bunch of containers, causing them to explode.

"!"

Another explosion was heard, this time it was actually pretty close to them. The sudden occurrence caused Rom to hold onto the youth a bit tighter than before.

"Just give it up already! There's no way you're leaving this place without me seein' you."

Another missile impact. The explosion caused some other containers to fall onto the ground, and parts of the room were starting to catch fire.

 _("Is she seriously trying to blow this place up?! That girl's lost it!")_

As more things caught flame, Linda laughed.

"Oh! I got an idea. If you come out now and admit that I ain't no underling, that I'm the baddest of the bad, I might let you losers live."

A heavy foot step was heard. Another container exploded from a missile hitting it.

"Well? What's it gonna be twerps? I'll give you 5 minutes go make up your minds. Better speak now or forever hold your peace!"

He felt even more pressure building up after she made that statement. Linda didn't seem to be the type that gave their word after promising something, so he very much doubted her words. Still, he hoped that Compa and Ram didn't fall for it, assuming that they even survived the missile attacks.

 _("If only there was some way to get past her without noticing... wait a minute.")_

Something suddenly came into his head that he had totally missed.

On his left wrist was a device called a cloaking band. It was a piece of prototype equipment that allowed the person who wore it to become completely invisible, and any one else that also wore one, could only be seen by them. The only downside was that there was a time limit of thirty minutes until the device's internal battery was depleted.

 _("If we can use these cloak band things to get past her, we can escape! But will the others also know this?")_

Shizuki and Compa were both wearing theirs, and just in luck, they also were carrying around two more for the twins in the event that they needed to use them to escape. However, there was one problem.

While he and Rom could cloak themselves and try to sneak past them, he had no idea if the other two realized this as much as he did or if they were already cloaked and were finding a way out. He thought about calling Compa's cell phone but then immediately vetoed that idea. Any sounds from her phone may give away their position, so that was out.

He had another idea though. It would involve him risking his neck once more, but it would ultimately give them time to escape.

 _("What a pain. But still, if I step out into the open and distract Linda, the others can cloak themselves and escape.")_

He reached for the cloaking band that was in his pocket, so he could have Rom cloak herself and escape, however, Linda spoke up again.

"Oh? What's this?"

"?"

He had no idea what it was she was reacting to so he decided to slowly peak his head out to see what it was.

"!"

Shizuki nearly let out a small gasp upon seeing the small figure stand before the bulky mechanical suit. There stood Ram staring directly up at the Nashorn which looked like it could crush her with a simple step. As he looked closer, he saw that Compa had also left her hiding spot, likely after attempting to stop Ram from running out into the open.

 _("Ahh! You idiot! Why did you fall for her obvious bait?!")_

Tsukamoto's plan had started to crumble apart. Now that the others had given themselves away, there was no way they were all going to sneak away together. While this did offer a chance for Shizuki to escape with Rom, there was no way he was going to accept that as an option.

"So you finally came out, eh? Where's that other twerp and those two clowns?"

"Forget them!" Shouted the CPU candidate. "If you wanna do something to me, go ahead, but leave Rom and everyone else alone!"

"Ahahah! What's this sappy shit? Playin' the hero all of a sudden? That's just like you trollops!"

Ram's strength was gradually returning, but it did not seem like she would be able to transform or even put up an adequate fight against the NASHORN yet. Rom peaked her head out as well and looked on with worried eyes.

"R-Ram, don't..."

They didn't know what she was trying to accomplish, whether that was to distract Linda while everyone escaped, or if it was to actually try to fight that giant mech. Either way, it was both reckless and extremely dangerous, especially given her condition.

"But I guess I'll humor you for now. If you do what I say, I might let those other clowns go scott free."

Though no one could see it, Linda smirked.

"And what's that?!"

"For starters, how about you get down on your hands and knees and say that I'm no one's damn underling, that I'm better than you, and that the goddesses and every one that worships em' are shitty people who should eat dirt."

"..."

Ram remained silent and instead glared at her when she said that. she couldn't bring herself to say vile such stuff about her sister, friends and all the people who believed in them.

"Oh, too hard to say? lemme make this easier for you then."

The NASHORN raised the gatling gun in the suit's left forearm and aimed it. However, the weapon was not aimed at Ram.

It was aimed at Compa who was still partially behind a container.

"..!"

 _("That bastard..!")_

Tsukamoto gritted his teeth. As if he didn't find Linda detestable enough already, his impression of her worsened at the sight of her trying to force Ram to say awful things about virtually the people she knew and was holding one of them at gun point. It was essentially a form of psychological torture.

"So let's hear it twerp. Say it or this trollop dies."

She hesitated. She didn't want to say those demeaning things about the people she cared about and didn't want to admit that Linda was better than anyone else there. She considered her a lowlife that should have been put away a long time ago, but saying the wrong thing or nothing at all would result in the demise of another dear friend.

"..."

And so after a few moments of hesitation, the CPU candidate swallowed her pride and fell to her knees and hands, as if she were begging forgiveness to a certain world's Lord and savior.

"You...You're not an underling! You're... absolutely better than all of us! The goddesses are awful, terrible people that should eat dirt...and the same goes for everyone who believes in them..!"

Linda grinned. "Good, you're doin' great! Now say your older sister's a bloody tramp that should eat shit and keel over."

"..!"

She bit her lip. It took all of her will to force those awful things out of her mouth, but what Linda told her to say next was even worse. She may have said some awful things to her sister upfront before, but in those instances they were not laced with as much malice as these were, and she usually apologized some time after cooling down.

"C'mon, I think my trigger finger's gettin' itchy!"

Linda said so in a mocking tone while she kept her aim fixated on the pinkette.

Though it took some time, Ram finally tried to utter out the words she was directed to say.

"Blanc...Blanc is a... is a... is..!"

But she couldn't get the words out. After wanting to apologize to her for the things she said earlier that day, she could not bring herself to say those hate filled words about her elder sister. The pressure of this situation was starting to become too much for her and as a result, tears were forming in her eyes.

"Please stop..!" Shouted Compa who was staring down the barrels of a weapon that would tear her delicate body to pieces if she made one wrong move. "Can't you see you're making Ram Uncomfortable...?"

"You shut up, tramp! I wasn't talkin' to you."

The Gatling gun's barrels began to rotate, yet no bullets came out yet.

"C'mon, say it! All you gotta do is say the words and she goes free."

The more Shizuki watched this unfold, the angrier he was getting. He wanted save them from this situation, but he no longer had the means to do so. All he had was a knife that would do no good against that armored suit, one which could shoot him down the minute he appeared.

"...To hell with this bullshit."

But even so he could no longer stand to watch that girl be tormented like that while his dear friend is being held at gun point. He didn't know what he was going to do, but he was going to stop this one way or another.

 _("I may have a useless as hell power set, but I'm not going to let this asshole terrorize us any more! So what if my body gets blown to pieces? Somehow, I'll come back and smash that twisted conception of hers!")_

He tightened his fists and stood up. he cursed his uselessness in situations like this, but he wasn't going to let that slow him down. But as he stood, he felt something tug on his jacket, snapping him out of his anger.

"...Please don't go."

The soft voice came from Rom who was looking up at him with tears in her eyes. She seemed to have been just as upset about this situation as he was, only she didn't want him to go out there for obvious reasons.

"Why? Your sister's in trouble right? Don't you want to save her and Compa-san?"

"I do, but... I don't wanna see you get hurt..."

He frowned. This is why he hated being in these situations. In the end, he only ended up being a burden to everyone there. He could try to rush in and stop this, but he would ultimately get himself killed in the process, and that would make the three girls he were trying to save sad.

He didn't want that.

He only wanted a scenario where everyone somehow managed to get out of this safely, but that was looking more and more unlikely as time went on.

"Damn it..!"

As he looked on, he saw Ram sitting there on the floor, trying to utter out those awful words about Blanc. But then, as if finally getting tired of this, Linda sighed and spoke again.

"Alright then, this ain't gonna work. Hope you're ready to say bye-bye to this trollop."

"N-No!"

The gun began to rotate once more, causing Compa to take a step back in surprise. Behind the armored suit, the former underling gave a an evil grin.

"!"

"Wait..! I can say it..!"

Despite Ram's pleas, Linda ignored them.

"Don't think so. You had your chance and you blew it. Now this chick's death is gonna be on your hands."

They both shut their eyes tightly and braced themselves for what would come next. But then...

"Eh?"

A silver disc shaped object slid right past Ram and underneath the feet of the NASHORN. Then, the suit suddenly stumbled forward onto the ground and only held itself up with its hands, trying to break free of the gravitational pull it was experiencing.

"W-What the hell?!"

Everyone else was suddenly surprised by this sudden occurrence, and then they looked up at the two doors, the four were trying to escape through. There stood IF and Nishizawa Mina, both armed with their weapons of choice. Seeing them there gave them a great sense of relief as if a pair of angels pulled them from the depths of hell.

"Come on you guys! That thing isn't going to hold her forever!"

Heeding IF's warning, the four wasted no time in leaving from their positions and running straight for the doors.

"Urraaaaghhhhh! Get your asses back hereeeeeee!"

They ignored Linda's bellows. All of them ran through the doors as fast as they could, going into a narrow corridor that led to a receptionist-looking area, and fled through the main entrance of the building, which finally led them outside. They could hear Linda's mechanized yelling followed by the sounds of something being broken.

After running a bit away from the facility, IF removed a device with a red button on it. After pressing it, loud sounds rang out as the entire facility was erupted in flames from a series of explosions inside.

The place was utterly ruined.

Everything was in flames and the explosion seemed powerful enough, that any bodies that were in there would be obliterated beyond recognition.

They even doubted that Mech Suit and its wearer survived.

※※※※※

A certain young man with long black hair, tied in a ponytail watched the events took place in the facility. Granted, he was not there personally to witness the chaos that unfolded in that warehouse, but he could still feel the intensity of it all. After all, a Mage and his familiar were linked together. Whatever they saw, he could also see, and whatever they felt, he could also sense.

In actuality he was not in Lowee at all, but instead, in a hotel room in the main city of leanbox. His familiar took on the form of a black crow which had been observing his 'target' for days now and took very good care in making sure it wasn't found.

"..."

The person he was observing was truly something. How many days had it been since he first arrived in this world? It seemed as if he were being constantly thrown into conflict after conflict after he awoke here. He didn't lie to himself and say that he wanted to jump in the fray to help the poor fool and his friends, but due to the regulations and politics which his organization strictly adhered to, he was not permitted to so do.

The young man stood in front of the window of his room, looking out into the cityline with green lights, though that wasn't really what he was looking at. His eyes did not see the cityscape, but instead it saw what his familiar was seeing from a nearby tree. He saw that the person of interest and his party escaped the building but saw it explode shortly after. It was a good thing the familiar left its position when it did, otherwise, the familiar would have been lost.

The black haired young man pulled out a device that could be called a cellphone, but it looked nothing of the sort. It was a small L shaped device with a rectangular screen that pops up from it. he turned the device on and pressed the button on the screen, and placed it to his ear.

A woman's voice spoke through the device.

 _{"Yes?"}_

The person who answered was not the same woman he spoke with two days ago. This woman in particular was apparently his direct superior.

"It would seem that the person of interest has gotten himself into trouble yet again."

 _{"Again? This trend is starting to become irksome. What has he gotten himself involved into **this time?** "} _

The woman asked in an exasperated tone.

"From what I was able to gather, the goddess candidates from Lowee were abducted by a fringe group of sorts with goal of overthrowing the goddesses. It seems that this group has been taken care of and the goddesses were rescued."

 _{"But?"}_ started the woman. _{"There's something else despite the incident being seemingly resolved is there?"}_

"The group's leader used a mobile weapon I've seen before. An exo-suit called the NASHORN X-1-Z. No doubt that machine belongs to **them**."

 _{"Hm, so they're giving local gangs their equipment now? Just what on earth are they trying to pull here?"}_

"It appeared to be an older model, which means they aren't just handing off their cutting edge weaponry. But it doesn't matter now. Bombs appear to have been activated inside that building and has collapsed. If a **boundary territory** was not deployed, the suit and the person wearing it is most likely destroyed."

There was a brief moment of silence on the other end. After seemingly deciding on what to say next, she spoke once again.

 _{"Alright then. Keep watch of the situation and report back anything you find noteworthy. We'll be looking into this matter regarding foreign technology being given to antagonistic residents."}_

"Understood."

He removed the device from his ear and powered it off.

The organization he belonged to was at war with another organization. Both were considerably technologically advanced and in the right circumstances, an all out battle between the two would level a city. He found it worrying that radical groups were getting their hands on the other's technology, but that wasn't his concern for the time being. He was glad that the NASHORN and its wearer was destroyed though. He had apparently seen enough to know what kind of personality they had and quite frankly, he would have had no qualms about chopping off her head were he permitted join the battle.

But it was over.

The person of interest was safe and the young girls who they came to rescue was saved. Though he was trained to suppress much of his emotions, he still felt them nonetheless, and he was relieved that everything worked out the way they did.

But as he continued to look through the eyes of his familiar, something in the flaming rubble started to catch his attention.

"..?"

※※※※※

The base of the L.I.C.S was destroyed. All that remained were a large pile of flaming rubble. If there were any bodies in there, they would most likely blasted into an unrecognizable state. The L.I.C.S members, including Gideon who fought at the entrance were removed from the building and were promptly taken into custody, and the bombs that were strapped to Gideon's body was carefully removed. Unfortunately, a small number of L.I.C.S members and basilicom guards didn't make it as they were either killed in previous battles or were rendered unconscious and didn't escape the explosion.

Shizuki heaved a sigh of relief. Although things had become dicey toward the end and the incident didn't end as cleanly as he and everyone else would have liked, he was glad that it was finally over. Everyone, including the two girls they came to save was safe.

"Phew..."

He glanced over at the twins who were now talking to each other. He noticed that Ram had a more or less unreadable expression on her face and was simply nodding rather than say anything while Rom was trying to talk to her.

"A-Are you ok Ram?"

"..Mm."

"..It looks like everyone's doing ok too for the most part." Said Rom with a smile.

"...Mm."

"E-Even miss Compa's ok too..!"

"...Mm."

Rom frowned. Normally, it would be Ram who would be the one trying to cheer up her sister whenever she was upset or down about something, but in this instance, the roles were reversed, and Rom wasn't sure what to do about this since she very rarely ever saw her sister become this depressed.

Before Rom could even say anything, the pink twin finally spoke.

"...This entire mess is my fault."

"..?"

"Because I said those stupid things to Blanc and ran off like an idiot... I got us captured and made everyone get worried and get involved!"

Ram's sudden shout had caught everyone by surprise, but she didn't seem to care. Instead, she continued speaking.

"I bet Blanc hates us now because I was a dummy... I even almost said those bad things about her back there 'cause I was too weak to fight back..." As she spoke, her eyes began to water a bit. "I'm a bad sister... and a terrible CPU..."

"I don't believe that's true."

"..?"

The puzzled Ram looked over to Tsukamoto who continued speaking.

"Your sister wouldn't hate you for something silly like that. Mad? Maybe, but I doubt it could ever be hate."

"B..But how come she didn't come save us instead of you?! She definitely hates us..."

"If she wasn't sick right now, she would definitely be here instead of us. Even while she's in bed, she's still worried about you guys."

"..."

He continued and smiled kindly, "You want to make up with her right? Then the best thing you can do is to return home safely and apologize. You guys are family, so I'm sure she'll forgive you."

After remaining silent for a few moments, Ram wiped her eyes and nodded.

"...O-Okay."

 _("So, I guess that's all said and done then. I think we've wasted enough time here, so we should──")_

Before Tsukamoto could finish that thought, the familiar tingling sensation in his head was going off again, and this time, its intensity was several times greater than it had ever been before.

So much so, that it was beginning to cause him pain. Shizuki placed a hand on his head in reflex and winced a bit.

"What's wrong, Shizu-kun?" asked Compa, who noticed his painful reaction.

"Something's coming... the rubble!"

Before she or any of the other girls could inquiry further, a loud sound blasted into their ears. They heard what could only be described as a bestial roar cry out from the rubble, followed by a slight shaking of the earth. Then in that instant──the flaming rubble had shot out and flew all over the place, causing everyone to shield themselves from the flying debris. When they looked on to see what happened, they couldn't believe their eyes.

"W-Wha..?!"

Where the flaming rubble once stood was green sphere of energy that was around 17 meters in diameter. The sphere itself looked odd──it appeared to be made up of small pentagon-shaped structures, and throughout the field, there was an electric charge of sorts that was seen surging through the field like a wave in an ocean of water.

What caught their attention however was the large figure standing in the center of the field.

"You've got to be kidding me..."

He recognized the figure. A massive blue mech with a Rhino's horn stood tall and firm while it was within the green energy field. He could tell that there were burns on some parts of its body but for the most part, it was relatively operable.

The energy field had begun to collapse from the bottom and onto the top and the energy ended up being retracted into the horn-like appendage.

As everyone stood ready, a low laugh emitted from the suit.

"...Hahaha. You assholes really done it now. Hope you've said your prayers."

Strong killing intent was felt as those red eyes glared back at them. But despite this, IF simply laughed dryly.

"Nice suit. What scrapyard did you dig that out from?"

"Wouldn't you like to know? I've got my sources and I ain't tellin' you!" Shouted Linda. "After all, you're all gonna be red stains on the pavement by the time I'm done with you!"

"Is that so? They wouldn't happen to go by the name, Titan's Hand would they?"

"..!"

When IF mentioned that name, Linda was not the only one to have a reaction. Both Compa and Shizuki were also familiar with the name and were immediately reminded of the Gleam eyes incident.

 _("What? Those guys?")_

As Tsukamoto thought that, IF continued.

"Your little lacky was kind enough to tell us all about the 'gifts' you received from them."

"Gideon, that little shit.."

"But that's not all. Apparently they get that stuff from a third party. Care to tell us who they are?"

"Hah! You kiddin'? If I told you their name, those guys would kill me, and I don't plan on dyin' anytime soon!"

The Nashorn stepped forward, loud footsteps shaking the ground beneath it.

"Not before dealing with you clowns first!"

At that moment, the Nashorn got into a running position as an energy surge coursed through the suit. Since she was indoors, her movements in the suit were somewhat hampered, but now that she was free of those restrictions...

She can go all out without any worry of hindrances.

"Linda," Shizuki spoke. "Why are you still going through with this? Your gang or whatever is finished, and your plan's already a dud! Can't you see how pointless this whole mess is?!"

"Pointless?! My ass it is! My plan may have gone to shit because of you chumps, but as long as I have this suit, I'm damn near unstoppable! Once I'm done making mincemeat of you losers, I'm goin' straight for the Tramp of Lowee and the other CPUs! I've been waitin' years for a chance to get them and there's no way I'm lettin' it slip by!"

With that ultimatum declared, Tsukamoto gritted his teeth.

 _("Damn, she's serious... what are we going to do? Ai-san and Nishizawa-san are here with us so we might have a chance, but something tells me we're in an even more precarious situation than before!")_

before, they could maneuver around the corners and hide from the suit as it chased them, but since they were outside where there were little to no hiding places to work with, they were practically sitting targets. With this much open space, Linda had more freedom to show less restraint in her attack.

"We're not gonna let that happen."

"?"

Two small figures stepped forward as that was declared.

It was the two girls the party had come to save.

It was the two girls who were at the center of the this conflict.

They were the CPU candidates of Lowee──Rom and Ram.

It seemed as though strength had finally returned to their small bodies.

But in spite of this, Linda simply laughed.

"Ha, you two brats think you can beat me in the state you're in?"

"It doesn't matter," said Ram. "There's no way we're gonna let you go around and ruin Gamindustri for everyone! Whatever it takes, we'll stop you! Right Rom?"

"Yes..!"

After having made that declaration, their bodies began to give off a faint white glow which gradually grew brighter with each passing minute. It had become so bright, that almost everyone there had to cover their eyes a bit.

The bright light exploded into a flash and the sound of something being powered on was heard.

"Tch..! So they finally did it."

The former underling muttered to herself as she saw the event unfold. She knew what this was. She along with everyone else there with the exception of Tsukamoto Shizuki knew of what had occured. But to Linda, it didn't matter. Regardless of the circumstances, she would destroy them, and with the Nashorn, she could accomplish just that.

As the flash began to subside, the twins figures had started to come back into view.

 _("What the──?")_

Tsukamoto was caught off guard by the sudden change the two had made. Upon first glance there were a number of things that were already different about the twins. For starters, they appeared to have grown at least a foot or two taller than before, and their hair──along with their eyes had changed as well. Ram's hair was now a bright pink color, and Rom's was a light blue color, but both of their hair was styled the same way. Rom's eyes had become pink and Ram's became a light blue with some kind of symbol etched into them. Additionally, their clothes had also changed. Instead of the winter coats they wore, they now were wearing what looked like one-piece white swimsuits with long white gloves and boots which also retained their respective color accents. And in their hands were staffs that were also the same color as their appearance.

"CPU Candidate Ruby Heart: Ready to go!"

"CPU Candidate Sapphire Heart: Also ready..!"

Any uncertainty the twins had were now gone. They now exuded a level of confidence that had not been there previously──likely a result of their transformation, which was a common side effect found in the goddesses whenever they transformed. Regardless, it was clear that they were more than ready to do battle and end this fiasco once and for all.

"Heh I hate it when you tramps go all magical girl, but it doesn't matter. Forms or not, I'm comin' to smash those pretty faces of yours into the pavement!"

"They will not be fighting alone." Nishizawa Mina responded, joining the candidates at their side.

"There's at least five of us here versus a single peon in a blue trash can. I doubt this will end well for you." Said IF, joining them as well.

"Still callin' me names huh? We'll see how cocky you runts are after I'm done with you!"

Having said that, power ran through the Nashorn as the thrusters on the bottom of its feet spew forth powerful fumes that blasted the mech off the ground, tearing apart pieces of it when it happened.

And like an arrow, it shot forward toward the four combatants with tremendous speed, and delivered a punch strong enough to shatter the earth.

※※※※※

A girl nicknamed Financier was currently roaming the halls of the Lowee Basilicom.

She was a girl of unknown age, but she looked to be a bit older than Rom and Ram appearance wise. She had light brown hair that almost looked blonde, and was always seen wearing a red maid's uniform with a white apron.

She served as the Basilicom's chamberlain for quite a long time──an occupation that required her to perform a number of tasks, such as making sure the basilicom was in prime condition, both inside and out and organizing any events that were scheduled to take place in the Basilicom, and even menial tasks like sorting out office papers for Blanc and Mina.

Whatever the task would be, she would carry them out without complaints however, and for this, she was generally regarded as a hardworking person and was well liked by mostly everyone.

Her current destination was a bed room where a certain goddess laid ill, sick from overworking and stress. The last time she had checked in on her, Blanc's condition remained unchanged, though she was sleeping far more comfortably than before and not muttering in her sleep as she was previously. Before she passed out, she got an e-mail that showed a picture of her younger sisters, captured by some shady group, and as such, her worry for them had transcended into her sleep if the muttering of her sister's names wasn't any indication.

By the time Nishizawa Mina had already arrived, with a small group of travelers, Blanc was already asleep, so she would not know that they were already making their way to the supposed location of the twins.

It had been almost two hours since the party initially left to mount their rescue, and the chamberlain has not heard from them since. As she made her way to her destination, she wondered how the rescue operation was going and if they made it out safely since there were bound to be some kind of security measures taken in a large facility such as that one.

 _("I hope everything turns out well in the end...")_

She had faith in them, as she did in White Heart. She was fairly familiar with most of the party members and had seen Mina in battle a few times, so she was confident that everyone would return home safely.

And she was also confident that Blanc would recover from her condition and be back on her feet before long. But still, she went to check on her again to see if there was any noticeable changes in her condition, hopefully a more favorable change.

The chamberlain gave three knocks on the 16 foot tall doors and said, "Excuse me, I'm coming in!" before opening the doors which should have otherwise been difficult for her to open due to their size.

She had turned and started to walk over to Blanc's bed, but then she stopped and noticed something strange.

"Huh?"

The bed was empty.

The chamberlain had to do a double take and look at the bed again, to see that it truly was empty. Lowee's CPU was nowhere to be seen. There was very little she could do to explain this situation as questions had begun to enter her head.

Where did she go? Did she recover from her sickness that fast? Or was she perhaps kidnapped? While she continued to wonder where she could have gone, she noticed something else that was odd.

A window that was next to her bed was fully opened, with the cold night air blowing the curtains back and forth. She could have sworn that that particular window was closed the last time she was in here.

And then it clicked.

She knew what happened to her, and she had a fair idea where she was headed.

But the real question remained──

──How will she manage?

※※※※※

Explosions ripped through the late-night air in the snow covered field.

Many missiles were currently being fired from a towering machine's arm at the figures that were currently attacking it. CPU Candidates Ruby and Sapphire Heart scattered from their positions and maneuvered through the air as missiles came flying their way. In retaliation, the twin goddesses raised their staffs and conjured at least 8 diamond shaped ice shards each almost the size of a small table and sent them flying straight at the Nashorn.

The suit remained where it stood and used its Gatling gun to shoot down most of the shards that were coming its way. The suit's operator, Linda smirked in response as she turned the weapon at the twins, firing countless bullets to pierce through their small bodies.

However, both of them had formed some kind of barrier in front of them, blocking bullets with no problem. While this was going on, Nishizawa Mina used the power of her own staff to freeze the Nashorn's feet in place, in an attempt to prevent it from moving──and at the same time, IF used her semi-automatic pistols and opened fire upon Linda, using explosive rounds this time.

"Tch, little shits... let's see how you handle Repulser Mode."

The Nashorn raised its right hand, a red node of some kind opening up and firing a strong blast of energy that pierced through the shield the candidates had created, though they were able to fly out of the way and avoid being directly hit. The blast shot through the air and struck a wooded area in the distance, causing an explosion to occur, though it was not on the same level as the one that destroyed the L.I.C.S base.

It raised its left hand and a similar node opened up and started firing red blasts of energy at IF who stopped firing to narrowly avoid the fatal energy shots. Once those two annoyances were out of the way, the thrusters on the suit's feet blasted once more, effortlessly breaking the ice and propelling the suit in the air as if it had taken a tremendous leap forward. It balled its hand into a mighty fist and came down towards the earth like a meteor, with the intent to smash the Blue-haired oracle to pieces.

"Shit!"

Wasting no time, IF briefly used her special "ability", Level Accel to enhance her running speed and tackled Mina out of the way as a powerful fist came down to end her, causing destruction to the ground where she once stood.

"...!"

Forming a platform of sorts behind them, Ruby Heart and Sapphire Heart launched themselves towards the giant mech, with their scepters raised, blades of ice began to form at their tips, turning their staff weapons into long swords. As they neared the nashorn, they swung their blades with the intent of inflicting some kind of damage upon the suit.

But when they did, a green energy field appeared around the Nashorn, resulting in the blades making contact with barrier instead. When this happened, the two girls were sent flying back with the same amount of force they used to strike it.

"Gaah──!"

"Ahh──!"

They stopped themselves in mid air and hovered back to the ground, the ice blade around their weapons shattering. Meanwhile, Linda laughed.

"Haha, how do you like that, tramps? It's called a Reflective Territory. I don't get the technical bullshit, but basically if you hit the shield, you're gonna get hit back, which means you're basically hittin' yourselves! Not bad right?"

"Tch, are you serious?"

IF muttered as she stared at the Nashorn. The suit was proven difficult to destroy, even without the barrier, and now she could not only protect herself, but to reflect the force of their attacks back at them. This meant that it wouldn't be a smart idea to use bullets or projectiles against it.

"Hah, that doesn't matter." Ruby Heart scoffed at Linda's words. "We'll just keep hitting you harder and harder until your stupid shield finally breaks!"

"Are you stupid? You think that hitting it harder will actually get you anywhere? Haha! It reflects all attacks no matter what's comin' at it! You could ram into it with a bullet train, and you still wouldn't get anywhere! In fact, the bullet train itself would just be smashed to pieces! So whatchya gonna do now, Magical Girls?"

The Nashorn raised its hand, with the particle weapons in the palm gauntlet preparing to fire off more blasts of concussive and explosive force, that can repel physical and energy-based attacks.

But despite this, Ruby Heart simply smiled.

"Heh, I think it's time we showed off that new move of ours, don'tchya think Rom?"

"Mhm..!"

Sapphire Heart smiled back and the two cpu candidates raised their scepters.

※

Tsukamoto watched the battle unfold between the five combatants. Because he and Compa had little to no attack power, they simply had to watch from afar. This was the second time he had participated in a battle like this and it was still all too unbelievable to his eyes.

Rom and Ram had suddenly transformed into those strange forms, and were fighting that giant machine.

But even with their combined efforts, it did not seem to be enough. The barrier it deployed which could reflect the force of attacks which it received, made it more difficult to fight.

 _("I feel so out-of-place here. But...")_

He knew he couldn't do anything combat wise. He may have been inept in combat, but he knew that recklessly running out there at this point was a suicide move. The best he could do now was place his hopes on those that could fight. And...

 _("...the best I can do is make sure that Compa-san doesn't get hurt during all of this. If I can at least shield her from any flying debris, I'll be fine with just that.")_

This was all he could do.

He may not have had his wooden sword or any other useful weapon, but he still had his body. A body that can repair itself should it become damaged.

As long as he had that, he could still do something. And he would use it to protect the girl standing next to him.

 _("I wonder... does she feel like I do sometimes when big fights like this break out?")_

Taking his eyes off the battle, he glanced over to Compa who was currently watching the chaos before them. While she was currently on standby in the event that IF needed to synchronize their abilities, there was not much more she could do beyond that. Unlike IF, she wasn't trained for combat like this, and she was at times, quite clumsy. And while she did have a weapon, if it could even be called one, it would do very little to their current enemy.

 _("She's not cut out for this kind of stuff, yet she still goes into battles, knowing there's not much she can offer strength wise...")_

Shizuki thought it was kind of admirable how she kept on joining her friends in battle to help them despite her lack of power. From what he could tell, it seemed like she had already been a part of or watched battles like these before in the past, which was why she didn't appear to be as overwhelmed by events as he was.

Even though, she didn't have any flashy ability or useful skill that could directly defeat an enemy, she still joined them and did whatever she could to help. He had some respect for people like that.

"I guess we're alike in that regard, huh?"

"Did you say something, Shizu-kun?"

"N-Nothing at all!"

Realizing his thoughts accidentally slipped through his tongue, Tsukamoto immediately turned away from her and dryly chuckled while he looked in the direction of the fighting before them. He noticed that they stopped attacking each other and were exchanging words.

He heard Linda explaining what the her shield was and how it worked, and the reactions from the people attacking her. Since it was basically an unbreakable shield, Shizuki wondered how in the world they were going to stop her, but then he saw the transformed Twins don confident smiles and raised their staff weapons.

And then something happened.

"Mirage Forest──!"

When those words were shouted, a flash of light ensnared most of the area, causing everyone to cover their eyes from the blinding rays. When the light subsided, their eyes had widned at the ridiculous sight before them.

Standing there was Rom and Ram in their transformed states. Their bodies had not changed at all, nor was their any noticeable change to the terrain.

Only there was at least fifty or so sets of Rom and Ram hovering around them.

"Tch..."

The one who said that was Linda in the Nashorn suit. She had a hard enough time dealing with two of them, but now fifty? She knew that even with the Nashorn, fighting multiple CPUs would be difficult.

Responding to her reaction, all of the Rams spoke in unison.

"Well? Whatchya think? Pretty cool right? With this many of 'us' we'll beat you up for sure!"

Watching this scene unfold, IF spoke.

"Hey Mina, did you know they could do this?"

"I'm afraid this is new to me as well..."

"Hah, you think that cloning yourselves is gonna take me down? As long as I got my Reflective Territory, there's no stoppin' me!"

Linda declared with a dry laugh. But even with that, the twins did not waver.

"We'll see about that!" One of the Rams said though it could not be told which one had said that.

※

The battle continued. The air had become filled with so much smoke and debris that resulted from the blasts of repulser energy being continuously fired at the ground.

The fifty or so clones of Ruby and Sapphire Heart constantly danced around the area, evading each blast as much as they could. Since there were so many of them, Linda was firing her blasts in multiple directions, no longer using the suit's targeting system at this point, but was just shooting willy-nilly, hoping she would get a hit.

And it was kind of working. One of her blasts had hit one of the Sapphire Hearts giggling and waving her hands, causing her to disappear completely. There was no corpse that resulted in her getting blasted, She simply vanished. Linda kept on shooting her repulser blasts at the many sets of twins, with her patience beginning to wain.

One version of Ruby heart was making weird faces at her while another one was shaking her butt in the air towards her. Meanwhile, another iteration of both twins latched themselves onto the Nashorn's feet and made goofy grins and another Sapphire Heart hovered above Linda and stuck her tongue out at her.

"Nyeh-na nyeh-na nyeh-na~! You can't hit all of us y'know~?" said one of the Ruby Hears as she hovered upside down in front of Linda while she grinned.

"Y-You little shits...!"

Linda was getting more and more pissed off by the second. She didn't know how long her sanity would last at this rate. Then she heard some more voices speak.

"Oh! Rom and Ram used the Jujitsu cloning thingy and now miss Underling's so confused!"

A youth named Tsukamoto Shizuki nodded at the words of the girl next to him.

"Huh, that's actually pretty incridble. Might be wasted against an underling-tier person, but pretty clever. Now they just need to to find her weak point and this'll all be over..."

"..."

Underling.

She had grown tired of that title. It was something that had became so synonymous with her existence, that people had actually thought it was her name.

However...

"GRAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

She would swear that this would be the last time anyone ever called her that.

With a shout that sounded more like a bestial roar through the suit's voice changer, her Territory was deployed and expanded outwards, pushing back the Roms and Rams that were both on and around her away like insects. After that, it shrunk back into the horn and she continued shouting.

"You goddamn pests! Call me an underling would ya?! I hope you assholes are ready to see the after life, cuz by the time I'm finished, even your ashes will be blown to piecessssss!"

Having made that final declaration, wing like structures were deployed on the back of the suit, and flames shot from the exhaust of the wings and her feet, and before she knew it, she was blasted at least twenty eight feet in the air. As she hovered in the air, she raised both of her hands and aimed at the ground below, the weapons on the palm gauntlets glowing dangerously.

"Repulser Mode: Bombardment Style──!"

"!"

When Linda shouted that, a hailstorm of red energy exploded forth from her suit's palms and began to carpet bomb the area with the force of a meteorite impact. In response, Nishizawa Mina erected a barrier around her and IF and struggled to do so from the strength of the impacts, causing the oracle to drop to one knee.

Shizuki grabbed Compa's hand and immediately took off running narrowly missing the repulser strikes, blasting the ground next to them. They took cover behind some of the rubble that remained from the facility that was blown up earlier.

As for the cloned twins, they took the brunt of the blasts. One by one, each of the twins were hit by the bombardment, resulting in them disappearing immediately.

They didn't even have time to react. Little by little, every twin was mercilessly struck down by the rain of red comets and the rain absolutely refused to stop. Before they realized it, the last version of Ruby Heart was blasted into nothing and the impacts kept hitting the surface.

"K..uh...!"

Mina could feel cracks beginning to form on the barrier she created around herself and IF. She wasn't going to keep this up much longer, but if she gave into the force and dropped the barrier, she and IF would be utterly destroyed. IF looked around and checked her surroundings. Everything was shrouded in dust and smoke due to the blasts, so she couldn't see much of anything. They could still feel the bombardment still taking place, so she didn't even know if the others had survived or not.

Shizuki was crouched behind some rubble while holding his friend close to him. As he tried to make sense of the sudden turn of events, he heard Linda half-laughing, half-screaming while she continued her relentless assault.

"Gyaaaaaaahahahahahahahahahahahaha!"

 _("Damn it! She's really lost it! How are we gonna get out of this?! Is everyone else okay?!")_

He knew that the others were capable of handling themselves fairly well, but the current scene in his mind was chaos incarnate. This was different from him facing off with a towering monster. He now felt like he was in a war zone with gunfire and explosions everywhere he turned. It was at this point where he was unsure if IF, Mina and the twins had survived. Based on the sheer number of explosions and the strength behind them, he doubted it, but still, he hoped that they some how managed make it through.

After what felt like an eternity, the bombardment finally ceased. When it had come to an end, Shizuki and Compa poked their heads from behind the rubble and saw the dust begin to clear. IF and Mina seemed to have survived, though oracle was on her knees while trying to support herself with her staff.

And...

"? Where's Rom and Ram?" Asked Compa as she looked around the area.

There was no sign of the twins. When IF and Mina noticed this, Mina in particular paled.

"N-No... It cannot be..."

"Hah... Hahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaa! I did it! I finally got rid of those little tikes! I didn't even need to use the Chaos Crystals!"

Linda laughed triumphantly as she continued to hover above the ruined landscape.

"That little..!"

"Oh no..."

IF furiously glared at Linda while Compa looked as though she was about to cry.

 _("Damn it...! This is... why? Why did it turn out like this? I really wanted to help. I really wanted to, but I couldn't do anything in the end!")_

Tsukamoto glared at the ground and clenched his fists. He wasn't really angry at Linda, but rather, the anger was directed towards himself. The reason was simple: He made a promise to someone and he could not keep it.

※

Before Shizuki and his party left for the rescue, he stopped by Blanc's room and paid her a visit. Because of her weakened and comatose state, he doubted she would hear what he had to say, but he wanted to say it anyway to get it off his chest.

 _"So um, I don't know if I should start this off with a simple hello or something, but since we're leaving in a few minutes, I'll get straight to the point... I'm sorry. You might be wondering why I'm apologizing to someone I've never met before, much less had a conversation with, but it's because I had a pretty sour impression of you before now. I thought you were some mean person that ignored your sisters and treated them like they were a nuisance, but I now realize that wasn't the case at all. You love them, and they love you just as much. Even as you're sleeping like this, I can tell you're worried about them, so once again, I'm sorry. It was because of my negligence that let them get taken by that Linda person and her cronies, but don't worry. Me and everyone else will bring them back safely. We're going over to that abandoned warehouse on the outskirts to rescue them, and I'm sure they'll be a lot of resistance once we make it there, but no matter what, even if they come at us with everything from guns to nukes, we'll smash through it all, break the twisted conception of the bastards that took them, and bring those two kids back safe and sound. I promise you, we'll be back, so just hang in there a bit longer, kay?"_

After saying what he needed to say to the sleeping goddess, he exited the room with the intent of fulfilling that promise.

※

That declaration had ultimately been rendered meaningless now.

The twins had been utterly annihilated.

And there was nothing they could have done to stop it. The fact that he made a promise he couldn't keep made him furious to no end.

Shizuki clinched his fist as hard as he could and punched a piece of wall so hard, his fist started to bleed.

"Fuck! How in the world am I going to face her now?!"

As his mind was beginning to fill with regret and the others filled with either anger or mourning, Linda spoke once more.

"Welp, that's the end of them. Don't worry, you're gonna be joinin' them soon enough!"

Linda smiled dangerously as she prepared fire another round of repulser blasts from above, but before she could, something stopped her.

Two small figures with long weapons flew at her with tremendous speed and both of them struck the Nashorn in the Head with great force. before she could react, the force of the two blows not only broke off the suit's horn, but it sent her crashing into the ground.

"Augghhh! The hell?!"

When she looked up, the two figures of Ruby and Sapphire Heart hovered there wielding their staff weapons which looked like the blunt points had been transformed into a hammer made of ice.

Everyone else had felt a wave of relief wash over them when they saw that the twins were seemingly unscathed by the vicious bombardment. Seeing their reactions, Ruby Heart/Ram simply smiled.

"What? Don't write us off so quickly! There's no way Lowee's cutest CPU candidates would ever lose to this loser!"

"Hehe! No way!"

The two girls hovered to the ground and landed in front of the fallen Nashorn unit before High-Fiving each other. In a voice that was a mix between irritation and disorientation.

"How... How the hell are you twerps still alive?!"

"Isn't it obvious dummy? You were just blasting our doubles this whole time. Meanwhile, me and Rom hid ourselves and waited for the right moment to attack!"

"You... You...!"

When he heard that explanation, Shizuki dryly chuckled.

"Haha, of course. Pretty clever... and they hit the weak point too!"

"That's the power of Jujitsu cloning for you! Now miss underling can't use her reflection territory thing!"

Linda let out a growl when she heard Shizuki and Compa's comments, but Ruby Heart spoke.

"Just give up already! We smashed your horn so you can't use your stupid shield anymore! If you come out of that thing now, I promise we won't beat you up too bad~!"

"You... YOU..."

Linda's low growling had suddenly turned into a low chuckle.

"...You think you won, just cuz my territory's gone?"

"?!"

Before she could make a response to that, part of the Nashorn's forearm opened up and a red gas sprayed from it, enveloping the twins as it seemed to cause them pain.

"Cough, Cough... guh, w-what's this..?!"

"N...No...!"

The twins suddenly lost all power in their bodies and fell to their knees. Not only that, but their HDD form was canceled out too. The Nashorn had a few Chaos crystals stored inside its arm and had ground them into a powder-like substance. Linda had did this in the event that she ended up in a precarious situation where she was unable to deploy her reflective territory, or if her weapons were ineffective.

Basically, it was a last resort move that would incapacitate a Goddess so she could finish them off.

As the powerless twins laid their coughing, The nashorn suit soon rose to its feet and grabbed their small bodies, lifting them up into the air. The sounds of bones being crushed could be heard followed by the girls pained screams.

"You think you Shitheads won this?! DID YOU?!"

"Guahhh!"

"A-Ahhhh!"

The machine's grip tightened ever so slightly. Without realizing it, Tsukamoto called out instinctively.

"Rom! Ram!"

"Let me get this into your thick skulls before I crush them! The Name's Linda, leader of the L.I.C.S, and the person that's gonna kick the ass of that tramp you call a sister, and every last one of the CPUs out there, includin' that one bitch that beat me senseless!"

Rom and Ram could feel the life slowly draining from their bodies as the grip tightened around them. Linda continued.

"So make sure you remember it while I squeeze the ever loving crap from your bodieeeesssssss!"

As they continued to cry out in pain, Shizuki finally found his body moving on its own. As he ran towards the nashorn, he heard somebody call out to him, but he didn't care at this point.

 _("I tried sitting on the sidelines and hoped that the others could resolve this, but I can't any more. I don't care if this is a suicide move or not, like hell I'm letting those two die like this!")_

He didn't have a plan for running out there when he did, nor did he know how he was going to stop her from hurting them. he simply reacted based on his emotions. But he would use his body and those emotions to stop her somehow.

But before he could do anything else, something incredible happened.

"..?!"

It happened so fast. With blinding speed, an object that looked like a massive hammer flew towards the nashorn and slammed into its head so hard, the machine flew back a bit and landed on the ground on its side. As it happened, Rom and Ram were dropped from the suit's grasp and fell to the ground too.

The said hammer then changed course and flew back to where it came from.

And it landed in its owner's hand.

When everyone followed the path of which the hammer came, their eyes widened in surprise to see the one person they did not expect to intervene.

"No way..."

※※※※※

Standing there in the snowy field was a certain goddess.

She had short brown hair, pale blue eyes, and wore a puffy hat on her head, coupled by a white top-dress and a pair of big sleeves on her arms. Her body seemed to glow in the moonlight as she stood there, and yet an overwhelming pressure was exuded from her presence. Everyone there could feel it──even someone like Shizuki couldn't help but feel the urge to shrink away from the scene lest he be crushed. Because her bangs was currently covering her eyes, they couldn't exactly see what kind of expression they were making. However, they didn't need to, because they already knew what it was.

She was beyond simple anger. She was completely livid.

"There you are... you damn rat."

The Goddess of Lowee, Blanc spoke in a low tone that radiated killing intent. It was a voice that nearly sent chills down everyone's spines. All of them wanted to say something, but they couldn't find it in themselves to say anything. The tremendous pressure was too great.

"I wondered what you've been up to since the last time we saw you... but never in my wildest dreams did I think you'd be retarded enough to kidnap my sisters."

She stepped forward, with somewhat unsteady footsteps while she dragged her hammer behind her. With each step, it felt as though the apocalypse was drawing ever so closer.

The nashorn stood up once again, but because the head had been smashed, Linda couldn't see what was going on. So she opened up the top half of the suit's torso which revealed half of her body. Even Linda, was feeling the unnatural pressure exuding from Blanc which had her shaking internally, but she tried her best to keep it together.

But she didn't even get another word in as the Goddess spoke some more.

"Just what the hell were you planing to do to Rom and Ram you bastard... in fact, I don't care. You can tell me later after I've beaten you into a bloody red smear."

Having said that, she glanced over to Tsukamoto Shizuki, whose shoulders slightly jumped when she did and thinly smiled.

"Thank you. I appreciate what you've done in trying to rescue my little sisters, but please, let me take care of this from now on."

And without another word, she turned to face Linda again.

Then as if her anger finally exploded, her body was enveloped in a bright light, causing everyone to cover their eyes from the blinding force. When the light subsided, Blanc had under went a transformation into a form that resembled Sapphire Heart. Her hair was a light blue, red eyes that was as red as blood, and a white outfit that was similar in design to her sisters HDD forms, and around her was a fierce white aura that looked as though it would burn anything that touched it. Her back had two square-shaped wings and her hammer was replaced by a stronger-looking Halberd with a similar glow.

She was White Heart.

"Get ready you little shit... when I'm done with you, nobody's gonna recognize you, YOU FUCKIN' TURRDDDDDD!"

"H-Hah, you think you scare me? I'm the stop dog here, not you! So go back home you traaammppppppp!"

The two figures charged at each other at the speed of bullets.

Linda formed a fist with the right hand of the Nashorn suit and threw a punch that contained all her strength into it. Meanwhile, White heart ran at top speed before kicking herself off the ground and shooting herself towards the enemy, putting a lot of her strength into her swing. In a swift motion, the arm of the suit was cut clean off and flew off to the ground as White Heart passed Linda.

"!"

Linda turned around to shoot her with a repulsor blast, but by the time she did, White Heart was already on top of her, and with an upwards swing, Linda was sent flying into the air. When she closed in on her, she heard the Goddess speak to her one more time.

"I don't know what made you try something so damn stupid, and frankly, I don't give a damn, but let me etch this into that tiny little skull of yours!"

 _("Shit, shit shit!")_

"Never **EVER** pick a fight with a Goddess, her family and her friends! No matter what kind of toy or plan you have, it never ends well. Learned your lesson? Good, now go back to the little shithole you came out of and NEVER COME BACKKK!"

With a deafening sound, the hammer collided with the nashorn suit and sent Linda crashing into the earth with the force of a meteor. When the dust cleared, she laid there laying in a small crater made by the impact, and it seemed as though the suit was greatly damaged. It didn't seem like she would be getting up any more.

It was all over.

White heart sighed as she descended to the ground and returned to her human form. Now that that annoyance was taken care of, she turned her gaze to her true objective.

"..."

"..."

The two twins stared at her with expressions mixed with happiness and sorrow. They were glad to see her, but something else was weighing on their minds.

She started to walk toward them. As she did, they cast their gazes downward, tears beginning to form in their eyes.

"S-Sis... I'm so sorry... I-I never should have yelled at you and called you lame like that... I only wanted to go to the park with you...!"

"I-I'm sorry too.. I could've stopped Ram... but I didn't..."

Tears had started falling down their cheeks as they continued.

"I..I understand if you hate us... but... but...!"

Before Ram could finish her sentence, both she and Rom felt a pair of arms embrace them, gently. The action had suddenly surprised them, and before they realized it, they forgot what they wanted to say. Followed by this, they heard a voice speak to them softly.

"Oh you two... how could I hate you? You two are my beloved sisters... You mean so much to me, so much more than anyone else or this tiny nation of ours. I'm sorry... I shouldn't have been so harsh with you back then. But let me make it up to you... how about we go to the amusement park with just the three of us tomorrow?"

Blanc gently smiled as she continued to hold her sister close, not wanting to let them go this time. In the end, she never harbored any bad feelings toward them. Any anger she may have had was completely washed away by the concern she had for them and the subsequent relief that came when she saw that they were alright. Bruised and dirtied, but alright all together. And with their expressions as they were, how could she yell at them now after everything that's happened?

And so, she decided to become the gentle older sister they wanted, for this moment and hold them closely, letting them know that they were indeed loved. That they were indeed cherished, and that she never hated them. And with those kind words, the two children could no longer hold in their emotions and started sobbing uncontrollable, clinging to their sister as if holding onto her for dear life.

Shizuki and the others remained silent as they watched the heart warming scene take place. As they watched, some of them, (Namely Mina and Compa) were even wiping tears from their eyes, while others simply sighed in relief that the nightmare was over, and the sisters reunited at last.

 _("Well, it looks like, all's well that ends well. I'm glad they finally made up. Hm?")_

As Tsukamoto looked on, remarking to himself how well things turned out in the end, he glanced over to where Linda had fallen.

※※※※※

She had lived a life full of strife.

She never knew who her parents were or what they even looked like, since her memories from back then were so hazy. All she remembered was going from street to street, doing what she could to survive, even if it meant stealing clothes or food. Back when she was small, she would often pray to any of the goddesses in the hopes that one of them would one day come and save her from her daily struggles. For Linda, they were her only hope in the world. The people she had turned to for help, had all but treated her with disdain and disrespect. Everywhere she went, people looked at her as if she were some kind of disgusting creature, children her age, older and even adults would call her names and kick her around as if she were a sack of garbage. For many years, she prayed to the CPUs, hoping they could save her from this night mare, but try as she may, her prayers were never answered.

And so, she grew to despise the people around her.

She loathed her parents who abandoned her.

She loathed the people that treated her like shit.

And she loathed the goddesses for not answering the prayers she made long ago.

She thought that by donning a persona where she was twice as awful than the people that screwed her over so many times, she would gain a level of respect by trying to instill fear into everyone she met. She started to fight back and beat the people who tried to hurt her, resorted to committing violent crimes, and even joined dangerous groups to gain a reputation. Surely, she thought that with these attributes and accomplishments, no one would even think about messing with her.

However, all she gained was a title that did not give her respect at all. She was given the title of 'Underling' which stuck with her for so many years, it became her name.

And to top it all off, the very goddesses she prayed to as a child, started calling her that. That alone made her more angry than anything else.

So she swore that she would tear it all down. Defeat the Goddesses, destroy the nations and take away everything they loved, and show them that she HAD a name. That she wasn't just a person who could be treated as a simple insect.

"...Not... yet."

That is why she must fight. Fight to prove her name, and her worth to a world where almost everyone considered her a joke.

The Nashorn suit had been destroyed. It was now completely useless. But that didn't mean she was finished yet. Getting herself out of the ruined suit, she removed a black pistol from her pocket and took aim at the three sisters who were currently embracing each other.

"Tch... you damn tramps!"

The gun had one bullet in it. It was a bullet that was crafted from Chaos Energy Crystals, special crystals that could kill a goddess. As long as she had this trump card, she would win. There was one bullet, but it didn't matter; as long as she could kill one goddess, she would be happy.

She put her finger on the trigger, and her face had a wide grin on it. But then, that grin had suddenly vanished.

"..."

A certain youth with dark blue hair stood in front of her, blocking off her view of the Lowee goddesses.

 _("Him...! Why is this shitstain still here!? I'd shoot him, but I'm not wastin' this last trump card on that guy!")_

While she was showing her frustration on her face by the boy's sudden appearance, he spoke.

"You think I'd let you ruin this moment?"

"Tch..!"

"Well, I guess there's one good thing that came out of this whole mess." said the boy, a smile could be seen on his face. "Those three sisters became closer to each other than they ever had been thanks to you. But here's the thing..."

"..."

"If you wanted people to respect you, there's plenty of other ways you could've gotten it. You didn't need to join gangs and hurt people to get it. If you used that resolve towards something productive, you could've done so many good things for this world."

"..! Shut the fuck up!"

Linda's grip on the gun shook as she shouted. She was still unsure on whether of not she should pull the trigger, but by the time she could make a final decision, it was already too late. The boy broke into a full sprint and clinched his fist as hard as stone, and by the time she could do anything, the boy was already on top of her.

 _("Shit..!")_

"When you wake up, make sure you reflect what you've done and try to make amends if you can."

And with a deafening noise, the blue haired youth's fist made contact with Linda's face and sent her flying back a bit. When she hit the ground, everything went black.

※※※※※

A certain red-haired woman in black armor watched the event unfold through the eyes of her familiar. While she watched the plan of Linda fail miserably, she found herself being livid at the events taking place.

L.I.C.S had fallen.

The Nashorn X-1-Z was destroyed.

And the plan to over cause a war between Lowee and Leanbox was in shambles.

Then again, she had a feeling something like this would happen, given who was spearheading the whole thing. In the end, it all failed because of a certain group.

"..."

Realizing this, she now knew what she had to do in order to forward her own agenda against the Goddesses.

"That's a dangerous look you have."

A strange voice came from the shadows, but Rosalia didn't seem surprised. Turning to the direction of the voice, stood a man in a dark cloak of sorts with glowing red eyes peering underneath his hood. He had a voice that was altered to sound deeper and distorted via a voice changer. If a comparison could be made, it would sound like a mix between a certain caped crusader and the grandson of a movie villain from a well known sci-fi film franchise.

"I take it that girl's plan failed."

"Obviously. That plan of hers was full of holes from the start. I somewhat expected this would happen, but never did I find myself to be quite peeved as I am."

"Hm. Were the interlopers, those two girls and that boy you mentioned?"

"Indeed. Surviving a trap to kill them was one thing, but thwarting a plot to change this wretched land is something I simply can't live down.." Said Rosalia in a dangerous tone. "And then there is that Tsukamoto brat... I can't figure out what his role is in all of this."

"About that," The cloaked man mused. "Remember I told you about the individual my organization has been looking for? It turns out, that Tsukamoto Shizuki has been that exact same person. The Operation Director confirmed it several hours ago."

"Is that so? This certainly got interesting. What will you do now?"

"I gave you part of my Hound Dog Unit so they could act as your own group for a reason. The initial idea was to have you capture the targets and bring them to us, but since this one has been paired up with formidable enemies, I feel it's time to change the plans a bit."

hearing the strange man's proposition, Rosialia thinly smiled.

"What did you have in mind, O' Jaeger?"

"Simple... you and your group go after the two girls and terminate them... and I will go after **my** target."

 _ **Episode 5:**_

 _ **NASHORN X-1-Z**_


	6. Episode 6: The Hunter and the Hound Dogs

**_Episode 6:_**

 ** _The Hunter and the Hound Dogs_**

* * *

Tsukamoto Shizuki felt as though he had overcome many trials since his arrival in Gamindustri. After surviving through incidents such as the Cave Dweller, the Gleam Eyes and the L.I.C.S Fiasco, he thought he was ready to take on his next challenge in this strange new world.

But as always, things never go according to plan.

"...This just isn't my day."

He was in a place that could only be described as the super-malls of all super-malls, a massive indoor shopping district that was comprised of many stores and brands both native to Leanbox and internationally. He didn't know how big this place was, but he felt as though he had entered in a indoor city of some kind that looked almost as futuristic-looking as the city outside. It was times like these he was reminded that Leanbox was almost about a century or so more advanced than anywhere on earth, and that it was truly a different world altogether. The mall was bustling with people and activity everywhere, which was something he wasn't used to even back home. Settings where he was around hundreds of people really made him feel uneasy.

 _("You'd think that after having my face nearly eaten off by big monsters and almost being blown to bits by giant mechs, I wouldn't have this problem, but apparently I certainly underestimated the strength of my stress of huge crowds.")_

The last time he was in a setting with huge numbers of people was about 2 days ago when he, Compa and IF had went to Lowee and gotten caught up in the L.I.C.S incident, but perhaps because he was not alone at the time or that Lowee's shopping district wasn't so... impressive for lack of better wording, Tsukamoto was able to keep a level head. But this also wasn't the only issue.

He had gone to this particular mall as per the suggestion of Compa. He had set out to buy a new set of clothes after having his school uniform (his only set of clothes he brought with him when he arrived in Gamindustri) being torn up and dirtied time after time again whenever they got into an incident. The only reason why they still looked somewhat presentable at this point was because they were constantly being repaired and cleaned by Compa and during those periods, he would have to wear a bathrobe until the repairs were finished. Although she said she didn't mind cleaning and repairing his clothing, he didn't want to keep having her spend hours cleaning and sewing his clothes. And also, he didn't want his only alternative piece of clothing to be a pink bathrobe of all things.

So, he went to the mall to get his new set of clothes. He had a fair understanding of how the currency worked, so he was fairly confident in going to this place to procure his bounty. But after doing so, he had clearly underestimated how big and populated this mall was.

"Man, I should have done the smart thing and had Compa-san join me here...why do I open up my big mouth sometimes?"

As a matter of fact, she had been the one to offer to accompany him since she had been the one to refer him to this place, but Shizuki instead declined, saying something along the lines of, "You needn't hold my hand any longer! Just gimme the money and I'll get there and back in no time at all! I'm ready for this!" to which he was warned that the place was big and that he may get lost. In his moment of arrogance, he was confident that the place wasn't as big and if he retraced his steps, he could manage.

And so he tried to do just that, but because of how spacious the place was and how many people populated the mall, doing so was easier said than done at this point.

And so, he stood there by himself in a massive influx of people while holding two paper bags in his hands.

"Goddamn it...Hm?"

Tsukamoto had to do a double take at the space he was looking at seconds ago and rubbed his eyes. He couldn't explain it, but he could have sworn he saw a cloaked figure staring at him in the distance. From the glimpse he caught of it, it looked as though it had glowing red eyes underneath the dark-hooded robe it wore, but due to how fast it vanished as much as it appeared, he didn't have enough time to observe it more.

 _("That was weird...I hope I'm just seeing things.")_

He assumed that was indeed the case since there were so many people walking about. It was possible that the sea of shoppers had created the illusion of a figure standing in the distance, or that he initially misidentified something as being something else, but whatever the case was, that figure unnerved him for some reason. He didn't feel as though he was in immediate danger since his "Threat Sense" never activated, but something told him that whatever he saw was bad news and that he shouldn't investigate further.

"Yeah, let's not go on wild goose chases...there's still other things to worry about."

He slumped his shoulders and heaved a sigh. He thought about asking a random person where the exit was, but he didn't want to embarrass himself by coming across as some kind of idiot or being desperate. But much to his surprise, his aid came to him unexpectedly.

"U-Um, excuse me sir. Is there something the matter?"

He turned around in response to the voice that addressed him from behind.

Standing there was a girl who appeared to be around his own age, carrying some shopping bags of her own. She had white skin, long blue hair, and magenta eyes with a pair of black headphones on her head. Tsukamoto noted the girl's appearance as being peculiar with her clothing being some kind of stage costume with a black base and pink accents. Additionally, the left side of her stomach had a treble-clef tattoo with a pink heart attached to it. Judging from her outfit, he thought that she must have been a stage performer of some kind.

But that didn't really matter at the moment.

 _("Praise the lord, I'm saved!")_

She must have approached him because she saw him standing there mumbling to himself earlier, but whatever the case was, this meant that he wouldn't have to ask people at randomly.

"U-Um, why are you smiling like that all of a sudden...?"

"Sorry, Sorry, as a matter of fact, I am kind of in a pinch right now..."

※

About a good five minutes or so, Shizuki was finally out of the mall. After this dreadful experience, he would make a note and actually accept guidance through these places when offered. But he was grateful for the kind Samaritan that showed him the way out of that place.

"Ahhh! After ten thousand years I'm free! It's time to conquer earth!"

"E-eeee!?"

Tsukamoto's sudden outburst seemed to have startled the girl who helped him out of there. Noticing this, Shizuki simply chuckled.

"Haha, sorry about that, I needed to get that out of my system. Thanks for getting me out of there though. I thought I'd be stuck there forever..."

"I-It was no problem at all really. You looked as though you were troubled by something so I was curious... would this by any chance happen to be your first time visiting Leanbox's shopping center?" The girl asked somewhat timidly.

"Yeah, a friend of mine recommended this place to me and said it was big... but boy that was an understatement! I mean seriously, that's big enough to be its own little city."

"Hehe, tourists say that all the time when they first arrive here. Would you happen to be one?"

"Hm? Well, not really. I mean I sorta just moved here about a week or so ago so I still haven't seen the rest of Leanbox yet."

"I see," said the blue haired girl, with a hint of curiosity. "Um, may I ask where you're from?"

"Uh, let's just say I'm from a country in the far east."

Tsukamoto wanted to keep information regarding his place of origin fairly scarce. He had just met this person and didn't want to give away any unnecessary information if he could help it. Seeing her look at him with a quizzing expression, Shizuki tried to move the topic elsewhere.

"A-Anyway, thanks for the save again. I really wasn't trying to spend the rest of the afternoon in there."

"It's no problem like I said. In fact, I was glad to be of some help!"

The blue haired girl smiled at him. Shizuki returned a smile, but then he noticed something around him.

About seven or eight bystanders were standing around, looking straight at the two. To be more specific, they were looking at the girl in specific. Some of them were also looking at Shizuki, but those were only a few guys in his age group giving off jealous stares.

After noticing this, the girl tensed up slightly and spoke.

"Oh um... I should probably be going now. Please take care!"

With a slight wave, the blue haired girl hurried off, leaving Shizuki there by himself. As he stood there, he thought to himself.

 _("Was she a famous person or something?")_

He couldn't be sure, but based on her showy outfit and the way people were stopping by to look at her, he assumed that she could have been an idol, though based on her somewhat timid nature, she didn't exactly come off as one.

 _("Well wouldn't that be my luck? First I meet the Goddesses of Lowee, now I happened to run into a Leanbox Celebrity by chance. If I keep this up, I might even meet the President of the United States or something.")_

He didn't think that such an event would ever occur, but given his track record as of late, anything could happen at any time. Still, he couldn't imagine himself meeting an important figure on earth like the American President at random while heading to a cafe. The president would normally be surrounded by bodyguards and other business-like people and there would have to be a crazy set of circumstances for such an encounter to happen.

The people that had been looking at them had lost interest when the idol girl ran off and simply walked off, back to whatever business they were conducting.

Tsukamoto shrugged and started down the path to the multi-tenant apartment building where he and Compa lived.

※※※※※

About several miles away on the roof of an office building, an eye was looking through a scope of some sort at a certain blue haired boy. The scope was attached to a sniper rifle aimed directly at him. And there was not just one.

Another sniper rifle with someone looking at the same boy from afar stood a few feet next to the first individual.

The sound of a woman clicking her tongue in annoyance was heard, though this did not break the concentration of the second individual.

"Fucking hell."

She was a woman who appeared to be in her late twenties give or take. She had short brown hair and was dressed in an all black leather outfit, with a Gothic look to it. To make her even more of a goth, she wore the tattoo of a butterfly's wing underneath her left eyelid.

Her real name was unknown, but she was known by her "comrades" as Chianti.

"I really wanna shoot him. I know we're not supposed to kill him, but I reaaalllyy wanna shoot him. Fuck, I'll shoot anything just to pass the time."

Chianti instead moved her sniper over to a young couple sitting at a table outside of a restaurant. They had a meal of some sort together and were smiling and laughing at each other. The sight of this annoyed her, so she wanted to ruin their afternoon somehow. She thought about just putting a bullet in the guy's head and watch the girl's reaction as he laid on the table, bleeding out. But rather than do that, she wanted to do something more childish.

So she took aim at the cup the man was holding and pulled the trigger.

When she did, the bullet pierced through the paper cup, causing its contents to spill all over the table. The couple let out a few surprised reactions as they watched it happen and tried to clean up the mess.

"Haha! That never gets old." Chianti laughed. "Watching people get lovey dovey with each other pisses me off almost as much as doing this shitty job."

"Don't complain." Came the gruff voice of a man beside her.

It was an old man with grey hair, wearing a cap and dark lenses goggles. He remained focused on watching Tsukamoto Shizuki and did not particularly care about what his partner said or did, as long as it didn't jeopardize their mission.

"Tch, you're no fun Korn."

She said so disinterestedly and moved back to Tsukamoto Shizuki. After doing so, she continued.

"Fuck, I took this job because I wanted to blow people's brains out. Not do boring shit like stalk some kid. What are those bastards even thinking?"

"According to Intel, he has an object of interest. One that the organization's been looking for for some years now."

The old man called Korn replied in a monotone voice. He never liked socializing.

"I know that, but what the fuck is this object we're looking for? How do we even know if this is the kid that has it? This could be a dud like all the other ones we got."

Chianti was a ruthless assassin that never liked sitting still for too long. She knew that her occupation required waiting around for long periods for her targets to appear or for when the right moments came for action, but if she went twenty four hours without shooting someone, she would be irritable to no end. At best, she would shoot random pedestrians in the legs or arms.

"..."

Korn remained silent and kept watch on the boy.

But Chianti would get a response.

"It isn't good to ask unnecessary questions. Doing so may shorten your lifespan."

She cocked her head back to see several figures joining them on the roof from the roof entrance.

There was a man wearing a metallic skull mask with glowing red eyes, and a green hooded cloak. Underneath the cloak, the person wore an all black outfit which is concealed some type of body armor underneath. This man had a very intimidating presence, and although Chianti or Korn were not really phased by it, the other 6 men were around him were, despite looking fairly imposing themselves.

The six other men wore black gloves, black armor on their torso and black helmets with elastic face masks that cover their mouths and nose. On top of that, they each wore a pair of goggles to fully cover their faces, and they were each equipped with a MI Tavor TAR 21 bullpup assault rifle.

These men were part of a group called The Hound Dogs; A black ops group that worked underneath an even bigger organization.

"Tch, you had to bring those shitheads with you?"

"As distasteful as they are, Hound Dogs do have their uses." Because the cloaked man's mask had a voice changer installed, his voice sounded deep and distorted, making him even more intimidating. "It has been a while since I observed the target. What is he doing now?"

"Kid's walking back to that apartment building. Nothing much besides that."

"I see. That woman has begun to move on her part of the plan. We should prepare too."

"Does this mean I finally get to shoot someone?" Chianti asked with a tinge of excitement.

"Your mission is to observe the situation and eliminate any witnesses. Me and this team will go and take the target into custody once it begins."

"Well, as long as I get to shoot, I'm fine with it. Man, I hope someone comes so I can blow their fucking brains out... what do you think, Korn?"

The man named Korn remained silent and nodded. He had no objections with the current plan.

After acknowledged this, the cloaked man turned towards the other six men and continued speaking.

"Hound Dog has been split into two groups. One group under that woman's command, and the other under mine. When we enter the field, use any means necessary to subdue the target, but do not kill him. Should there be any witnesses in the area, terminate them with extreme prejudice. Am I clear?"

The six men in black stood at attention and shouted "Yes Sir!" with an odd strength in their voices.

"Good. I expect you to carry out your orders without failure."

Even though his voice was filtered and disguised, it still didn't hide the cold tone it held when he spoke. He was truly a cold-hearted man that would ensure that his plans succeeded one way or another. He didn't care who got in his way; man, woman, child, teen or elder. He would kill them to keep their existence and their mission a secret. Which is why he left the termination of the two girls who resided in a certain apartment building to "that Woman". If they were in the way, there was a chance the operation would fail and would be forced to retreat.

The Hound Dog Unit that this man was given command of had many more people, however a good portion of it was lent to a certain woman to carry out one part of the plan, while the other he led into the field to capture Tsukamoto Shizuki. Chianti and Korn would remain on the roof to terminate unnecessary persons in the vicinity of their operation, since they were among the best snipers in their organization and were not as adept in close range combat as others. These two were not members of Hound Dog and were more or less supervising agents deployed their along with the masked man, though he was their direct superior for this OP.

"I got a question," One of the men in black spoke up to his superior. "So about a good half of our organization was sent to this planet because the U.N thinks the people here are planing an invasion right? We should be attacking their military facilities and capturing one of these 'CPUs' to get information. Not waste resources on some wimpy highschool kid."

"Thank you, that's what I've been saying!" Shouted Chianti. "At least I can agree with you shitheads on that."

Unlike Chianti and Korn, the other Hound Dog members didn't know why exactly they were focusing on the blue haired youth. They were simply told to capture that person without any additional information outside of, "a person from earth who may be an Esper."

They did not ask how he got here, what he was doing here, and why it was imperative that they capture him.

But this one man had questioned it.

The man in the metallic skull mask turned toward his subordinate and spoke in a unreadable voice, causing the other five men in black to sweat a bit.

"...Your designation is D-1895, is it?"

"Yes it is."

"You are a convicted felon that was given a life sentence in the United states. What was your crime?"

The man remained silent for a few moments, his palms sweating profusely. He was hesitant to answer but did so, with the fact that things would not bode well for him if he stayed quiet.

"T-Three counts of first-degree murder and destruction of private property."

"I see."

Before he could say another word, the man in black felt enormous pressure around his neck, and felt his body being lifted off the ground by a foot or two.

"Hghnn...ack!"

Metallic fingers tightly gripped his throat as he started gasping for air. His weapon dropped to the ground, making a clattering sound as he grabbed on to his superior's arm while his legs flailed about. The other men gasped a bit while they watched this scene unfold, starting to fear for their lives as well. Chianti merely smiled as she watched and Korn wore an expression devoid of any discernible emotion.

The man in black gagged and gagged as he continued kicking his legs around while the bionic hand's grip tightened. Underneath his mask, his eyes were bloodshot and looked as if they were about to explode. Eventually, the man in black's body started to slow its movements and the loud sound of something snapping was heard, followed by his body falling limp entirely, as if the strings controlling his movements were suddenly cut.

The cloaked man tossed the corpse aside as if he were throwing something away in the trash and faced the other men in black.

"Let me make one thing clear, since some of you have already forgotten your place. You are simply disposable filth in a sea of trash. You have no human rights whatsoever, especially in this place where the UN's human rights laws are null and void. We have plenty of disposable filth like you in reserve, so we can have you terminated and replaced within seconds. The Operation Director will not tolerate any mishaps in this mission or others."

His distorted voice spoke in a tone of scorn.

"You are already as good as dead. Some of your families have been amnesicized with traces of your existence purged, so you have no one who will miss you. Do you understand? We have no problems with throwing you in the burn unit. Do not question my orders again, or you will end up like this."

The men in black simply nodded in response. Their morale was shot, but at the same time, they knew he was right. Each of those men had committed heinous crimes and were convicted by the justice system of their respective nations.

This is what the Hound Dogs were; The absolute scum of society plucked out of prisons either serving life sentences or on death row and forced to fight for a certain organization, being brutally trained to be sufficient tools.

And those who could not meet certain standards were terminated.

"Return to the Van and await further orders."

Wasting no time, the Men in black scurried down the stairs on the side of the building, leaving the other three by themselves. After they left, Chianti smirked.

"You sure got an interesting way of boosting morale."

"Those people──no, animals are scum that should be taught their place. They are, after all, the reason why I became The Jaeger."

The man called the Jaeger spoke without facing his associate. Korn continued watching through the scope of his sniper rifle. Tsukamoto Shizuki had made it to the multi-tenant apartment building and entered it, so he aimed toward the windows of the floor he stayed on.

"Heh, looks like you've got your own shit to deal with."

"You could say that." The Jaeger replied and looked off into the distance. "I find it hard to believe that this world poses a threat to humanity, though it doesn't really matter. Killing scum like those D-Class is all I exist for."

He turned his head to face the direction of the multi-tenant building their target was in. Based on his personal observations, Gamindustri did not seem to be a dangerous element, and the person they were after appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary high school boy, like the others they had abducted and killed based on information they received from the top. His identity was confirmed after he had gotten the information from a certain woman and later confirmed it with the Operation Director who had also received word from other entities that Tsukamoto Shizuki was indeed the one they were to intercept.

Before, they were operating with only a somewhat vague description of the person, but now that they had a name that coincided with an existing individual on earth──one who had been reported as missing less than a week ago, they could move.

It was approximately 4:55 PM and clouds were forming in the sky.

It looked like it would rain later, but that did not matter. They WILL carry out their mission.

※※※※※

Tsukamoto Shizuki entered the multi-tenant building.

The place looked like the kind of building he would expect upper class individuals to stay in, but he was surprised to find that ordinary people like him and Compa lived there as well. The building had about forty floors with hallways that had ten doors on each side. After passing by the families and other people that occupied this place, he realized that he never paid that much attention to the details of this place he stayed in. Whenever he came and went, he was either busy in conversation, or was simply too tired to care from the incidents he was involved in. As he passed through the lobby, he took this time to take in the surroundings of what could be his new home.

He took the elevator up to the 13th floor where he stayed on and walked down the hallway to the fifth door on the left. Taking out a spare key which he was given, he placed it in the keyhole and opened the door before addressing his presence.

"...After years of endless wandering, I'm finally back!"

"Welcome back, Shizu-kun! How did your shopping go?"

He heard a cheerful voice greet him as he entered the apartment. Standing there was the girl named Compa, with a bright smile as always. In regards to her question, Tsukamoto slumped his shoulders slightly and responded.

"Well, I kind of got lost... but luckily an idol person helped me out."

"See, I told you you would get lost by yourself..."

"I know, I know, but at least I got what I needed and escaped from there." He saw Compa pout at his answer but waved it off. "Still though, you could've mentioned that it was a tourist hotspot."

"You went there?"

Having his attention caught by a third yet familiar voice, he turned in the direction where said voice came from. Lounging on the sofa in the living room area was the girl called IF who was currently playing around on one of her many phones.

Even though he had known her for less than a week, he still had no idea what purpose all of those phones served.

"You know there's a clothing store just across the street, right?"

"...Hah?"

When he heard that, Shizuki's eyes became dots.

"Yeah, and it's so smaller, getting lost in it is practically impossible."

"Oh yeah, I completely forgot about that one!" exclaimed Compa who had just remembered there being said clothing store.

Shizuki could barely find the words to respond to this information, causing a slight twitch in his eye.

"So... you mean to tell me I could have avoided going through that stressful time...and just walked across the street to a smaller store?"

Dumbstruck by this new information, Tsukamoto went over to the window and peered down at some of the buildings below. Sure enough, there was an establishment that looked like a clothing store, with people going in and out of it at random intervals. He didn't know if she was not aware of the store's existence until now, or if she had simply forgotten it was there, but after seeing this, he simply let out an exhausted sighed.

"Oh well, at least I have a better alternative instead of the mega-mall of mega-malls..."

"Oh, did you buy any sleeping clothes by any chance?"

When Compa asked that, she had picked up a moderately sized cardboard box of some sort and was holding it in her arms. Despite wondering about that, Shizuki answered anyways.

"Hm? Well I couldn't get that many clothes since I only had that bit you gave me, but I did get two sets of pajamas. Why?"

"Well, just a while ago, I went and ordered something off the internet and got you this!"

She smiled happily as she opened the cardboard box and pulled out a certain object from it. Upon seeing it, Tsukamoto's face went blank.

"..."

He wasn't sure what to think of it at first. The item that she had went and bought for him online seemed a bit absurd in his eyes. In fact, it was so much so that he even heard IF snicker slightly when she looked at it. The item in question was some kind of sleepwear that was a onesee. The fact that it was a onesee was bad enough, but on top of it, it was a navy blue color and it had a hood with long bunny ears. And finally to complement the bunny theme, the onesee had what looked like a bushy cotton tail on its rear.

"These were on sale a couple of days ago on Gamazon and since you didn't have pajamas, I went ahead and bought you some. Look, I even bought some for myself so we can match!"

The Pinkette smiled and rummaged through the box some more, pulling out another outfit. It was the same outfit as the last one, only it was light pink in color.

Seeing this, Shizuki stared at her with a deadpan expression.

"...Compa-san. Can I give you my honest opinion?"

"Of course."

"...If I had to choose between this and the pink bathrobe, I think I'd go with the bathrobe. I wouldn't be caught dead wearing this."

After hearing those words, Compa let out a surprised gasp as if she were shot in the heart by an arrow.

"Aw, you don't like it? But it's cute..."

"Compa-san, that looks like something a 6 year old would wear, not a 16 year old highschool student! And why is it even in my size? Are the guys in my age group here in Gamindustri actually into these things!?"

"But...But...sniffle..."

Compa made an expression that looked like she was tearing up from the sole male's words. After seeing this, IF let out a sigh.

"C'mon Shizu, it's not good to hurt a girl's feelings after she gives you a present. She's letting you stay here for free so the least you can do is accept her gift."

"Grk... you got a point there. But if that's the way you feel, maybe YOU should wear it. It's even blue and oversized so it's a perfect fit for you too!"

Feeling as though he turned the conversation around, Tsukamoto donned a cheeky grin.

"Sorry but nope. There's no way in hell I'm wearing that thing. Besides, it's YOUR present, so you wear it."

"Iffy's right, Shizu-kun," Said Compa while still holding the box. "After all, I bought one for her too."

"Eahhhhhhh?!"

IF's eyes widened to the point where they became white circles as Compa pulled out a light green onesee from the box.

"W-Why'd you go ahead and get me one?! I already have pajamas here and at the Basilicom so I don't need it!"

"But I bought it so we could all have matching pajamas. You don't think it's cute..?"

While she pouted, Tsukamoto crossed his arms and smiled.

"C'mon, Ai-san, it's not good to make your friend sad after she gives you a present. She's had your back for how many years now, so the least you could do is accept her gift."

"...I hate you."

The brunette grumbled under her breath and stood up from the sofa before walking over to Compa and took the green bunny suit from her. Seeing this, Compa's eyes suddenly lit up.

"Oh, are you really gonna try it on?"

"If it'll make you happy, fine I'll wear it just for a few seconds..."

After grumbling to herself some more, IF went into the guest room of the apartment and slammed the door to put on the green onesee. After a good minute or so, the door finally opened up to reveal a rare sight.

"..."

Standing in the doorway was the girl in question, dressed from head to toe in the green bunny pajama suit, with her cheeks turning a slight pink.

"T-This is ridiculous..."

"Aw don't be such a stiffy Iffy, it looks cute on you!"

Hearing that complement, IF averted her gaze. "W-Well it's not like I actually wanted to try it on or anything. I only did it so you wouldn't pester me about it later."

"Pfft..."

A certain blue haired youth tried to hold in a laugh. For as long as he knew IF, she always had a certain aura of seriousness around her even when there were no incidents or fighting occurring, but after he saw her wearing the green onesee, that aura of seriousness had all but vanished.

He would have made a comment about her throwing out the stereotypical tsundere catchphrase, but her current appearance was far more amusing. Perhaps it was due to her short size, but the outfit currently made her look like a kid──certainly detached from the hardened mercenary that took on the Gleam Eyes and the Nashorn.

"Pffft.. Hey, with those bunny ears, people will start calling you the Hare of Gamindustri."

After that, he couldn't hold it in any longer and started laughing some more. This had caused an anger vein to form on IF's temple as she clenched her fist.

"Hahahaha──blghh?!"

Before he realised it, Shizuki was on the ground with a dull pain on his cranium. Apparently, IF had rammed her fist into Tsukamoto's head so hard, he fell face first on the floor.

With the blue haired youth dazed with spinning eyes, IF stormed back into the guest room and took off the onesee to put her original clothes back on. Afterwards, she left the room and sighed.

"Geez... if Nep ever saw that, she'd never let me hear the end of it."

"Ughh... you didn't have to hit me that hard you know?" Said Shizuki as he rubbed the spot where he was hit.

"It's your own fault for making fun of her silly."

"True, true..."

As the disoriented youth started to stand back up, that was when they heard a loud buzzing sound.

It was one of IF's cellphones.

Taking out a black phone from her coat, she pressed a button and placed it to her ear.

She didn't say hello or ask any questions and instead, just listened to what the person on the other end was saying. After a few small nods, IF finally responded with a, "Got it." and hung up.

The first one who spoke up was Compa.

"Something wrong?"

"That was one of my contacts from the Guild. Apparently, a monster appeared and it's attacking the town of Gargan."

Having heard that, Tsukamoto finally got out of his dazed state and shook his head.

"A monster?"

"Mm, and it's a Grimm this time."

"?"

Shizuki frowned at the term. He was pretty sure whatever it was, it was likely just as terrible as some of the other creatures they had to deal with the last few days. He was about to ask what exactly a Grimm was, but then Compa spoke.

"Aren't grimm pretty rare these days?"

"I know, I'm kind of surprised too, But either way, we have to put it down. You coming Compa?"

"Aye-Aye, Iffy!" The addressed exclaimed as she had already gotten her bag ready.

"Wait a second," started Shizuki. "You need all the help you can get right? I'm coming too."

Upon hearing that, both of the girls frowned slightly at his words.

"Um, I don't think that's a good idea Shizu-kun..."

"And why's that?"

Answering his question, IF lightly sighed. "Don't take this the wrong way, but you aren't exactly combat oriented."

"..."

"Besides, you just barely survived Linda's rampage. It wouldn't hurt to take it easy every now and then."

Shizuki frowned at her words.

"But..."

"Don't worry, Shizu-kun! We'll take care of mister Grimm and be back home in no time!"

Tsukamoto was about to voice his complaint, but the two girls were already making their way out the door.

"Make sure you hold down the fort okay Shizu?"

"Oh, feel free to have some of the pudding I made! But don't eat too much or you'll get a tummy ache~!"

With those parting words, the duo left the room, leaving Shizuki there by himself.

※※※※※

Gargan was a town that stood a bit outside the main city of leanbox. Although it wasn't a metropolis with fancy skyscraper buildings, it was still a fairly developed area, more so than anywhere else on a certain world. The town's population consisted of around 400 or more and a lot of small businesses thrived there. Overall, it was a tightly nit community.

But that community was currently being threatened.

A creature called a Grimm had risen from the near by shore and had begun its assault against the townspeople. Many people could be seen fleeing for their lives as the giant creature shot balls of fire from its mouth, setting buildings and establishments a blaze.

And the one who had called for it to manifest was watching from a safe distance.

The red haired woman known as Rosalia smiled thinly while holding a cellphone in her hand.

And then she crushed it as though it were a fruit.

"Hm, that's that I suppose."

Of course, this was all planned. Through unknown means, she had some how conjured the Grimm known as Leviathan to attack this town in hopes of dealing with two people who had disrupted her plans so far. By directly calling them here, she could deal with them more adequately, all while her 'contact' took care of the weakling she had no real interest in.

For certain reasons, Rosalia had begun her campaign against the Goddesses of Gamindustri and those two girls who were very close allies with them, were a thorn that she had to deal with. But that was easier said than done.

Her first attempt to deal with them was through the way of using the monstrous Gleam Eyes to her favor, by trapping them in its domain. That attempt had failed due to the interference caused by the blue haired youth and his strange ability.

The second attempt was not focused on those two girls at all and was set up as being a direct blow to the goddesses themselves. Originally, she had used Linda and her group, the L.I.C.S to kidnap Lowee's CPU candidates and hold them in exchange for a share crystal demanded by the goddess of Leanbox. This was obviously a ruse and was designed so that the candidates would be dealt with anyway.

With that, it was believed that White Heart would rush to the location regardless where the L.I.C.S would attack and kill Lowee's CPU via chaos energy crystals and weapons from Rosalia's contact. After her death, Rosalia would take on the form of Blanc and use the incident as an excuse to go to war with Leanbox. This was actually Linda's plan she proposed to Rosalia.

But that too ended in failure.

The three brats from before had gotten involved and derailed the whole plot, resulting in Linda's defeat and most of the L.I.C.S being disbanded.

And so she decided that this would be the night they would be dealt with. The beast she conjured was formidable, but it would most likely be defeated eventually by those two. But this two was part of her plan, so she could make dealing with them directly more easier.

Rosalia took out a black rectangular device and the holographic image of the Jaeger appeared from it.

Before he could say anything, Rosalia spoke first.

"How are things on your end?"

"The two girls are leaving via motorcycle and Tsukamoto Shizuki still remains in the building. It looks like everything is going well."

"Good~ I've just unleashed a Grimm on this backwater town that should give them a good struggle." replied Rosalia while she played with her hair. "I had to use a bit of extra prana to conjure this particular creature you know?"

"Doesn't matter. As long as it carries out its purpose, I have no complaints. Just make sure those two girls are dealt with and are away from here."

"Of course, of course~. I will thoroughly make sure those brats never interfere with my affairs again."

Rosalia declared that in a tone that would have made anyone listening into their conversation gain chills. But the Jaeger didn't seem to be bothered by it at all. Instead, he continued speaking.

"I will keep you posted on the results of the operation. Make sure you do the same."

"Will do~"

With that, the connection was cut and the holographic image of the Jaeger disappeared.

"Now then," Rosalia sighed and put away her device before turning to the side. "Whatever shall we do with you?"

Standing there was about three men who were wearing different kinds of armor and equipment and had at weapons completely different from one another. They were members of Titan's hand who were in actuality, members of Hound Dog. But Rosalia's comment wasn't directed towards the men.

It was the person they were currently restraining.

"..."

Being held in place by the men was a girl who was wearing a suit-like outfit. It was the kind of outfit that women who worked for high profile companies wore, only the suit was dirtied, torn in some places and her hair was somewhat disheveled.

"It's quite a good thing that I was able to track the Wind Walker's contacts, otherwise this plan wouldn't have worked so well." Rosalia spoke as she looked down on the girl. "But, it seems your services are no longer required, so I'm afraid we must depart~"

There was a reason why that person was here. Rosalia seemed to have the ability to change her appearance into that of others. It was debatable whether she used technology to do this or if she had some kind of innate ability, but this also meant that she was able to change her own voice as well. She captured one of IF's contacts who currently lived in this town and used her voice to call IF down there.

Now that the girl had served her purpose, she was no longer needed.

Rosalia snapped her fingers and the third man who wasn't holding the girl walked over and handed her his sword.

An expression that was a mix between fear and frustration formed on the girl in the suit's face as Rosalia walked over towards her with the sword in hand.

"You...will never get away with this... One of these days, justice will stop you..!"

"Justice?" Rosalia let out a light laugh. "I am terribly sorry, dear but Justice cannot save you. One way or another, I will bring Gamindustri to ruin, for it is my destiny to do so."

With a dangerous air around her, Rosalia raised the sword above the girl's head.

"And no one can stop me. Not that Wind Walker and her simpleton of a friend, nor the Goddesses themselves. Be sure to remember this after you arrive to the underworld."

With a swift motion, the sword was brought down and terrible sound was heard.

※※※※※

"Sigh..."

Tsukamoto Shizuki sighed whilst he laid on the living room sofa, looking up at the ceiling.

It had been about twenty five minutes since the two girls left to resolve a certain incident. As a result, he was left in the apartment complex by himself.

"I guess they think I'm a bother..."

He was in a dejected mood. He wanted to go with them so he could help them in the battle, but they instead told him to stay there and not get involved.

The reason was obvious.

 _("Guess I can't blame them though. Those two have more experience than me when it comes to dealing with monsters. But still...")_

He may have played a role in the Gleam Eyes and L.I.C.S incidents, but looking back on those, he had barely did anything of use when it came to fighting. He may have dealt the final strike against the Gleam Eyes via, the Mystic Eyes of Soul Conception, but Tsukamoto didn't want to use them again if he could help it. But even with that, his chances of actually beating a creature like that was quite low.

After all, he had no impressive physical skills or other offensive abilities that could aid him in a fight. Just because he had a means of ending a creature, didn't mean he would be able to actually defeat them. Without proper skills, that power was meaningless in this case.

"I want to at least help them somehow..."

Although he never admitted it outright, he wanted to pay those two girls for the kindness they've shown him up to this point. Just over a week ago, he had reached one of the lowest points he had reached in quite a while, and was mysteriously transported to an unfamiliar land. And on top of that, he had been thrown into multiple life and death situations and those two had watched his back and protected him each time. And not only that, they accepted him even when they discovered his odd nature.

No one in his world would have done the same, at least for him.

If it was his world, he would have been discarded.

And so, to thank them for all that they've done for him, he wanted to do something to help them, because it didn't feel right for him to just take their kindness and not reciprocate in some way. But because he lacked the combat abilities IF had, or the support ability Compa had, he was ultimately just an amateur in way over his head.

And he realized that going in now at this point would probably worry them and he would just get in the way.

 _("But what can I do? I want to show my thanks for what they've done for me, but how?")_

That was when he had a thought.

 _("Wait... maybe there is a way I could help.")_

He recognized that the pair were off to fight a terrible entity, which meant that they would most likely be tired by the time they came back.

And with that tiredness, often came hunger if one did not recently eat anything.

"It is getting around that time we'd usually eat dinner, so..."

With his mind now set on his new goal, Shizuki rose from the sofa and stood up. Stars were practically in his eyes now.

"Who says I needed to be on the battlefield in order to help them?"

He may not have had any impressive skills he could use in a fight. He may not have had any powers that he could use to incapacitate an enemy force.

But there was one thing he thought he was at least somewhat good at.

※

The blue haired youth had took to the kitchen and he had begun his new objective.

What he did was very simple.

Because he had spent much of his time home alone, he learned how to cook on his own, and had gotten quite the hang of it the more he practiced. While he never considered himself to be all that great, he did like to think that he was somewhat passable as a cook.

So, he managed to whip up some of the dishes he knew of and had it sitting on the table after some thirty odd minutes of cooking.

Currently, there were three plates of his dish sitting on the dining room table. Steam was currently rising from the food as it had just come out of the pan. This would not be a problem though, since by the time the girls came back, the food will have likely cooled off.

He left his plate there as well because he didn't want to eat without them, plus he wasn't really that hungry anyway.

"Well, I'm no Yukihira Sōma, but even someone like me can make something decent every now and then!"

Having cooked the best dish he knew how to make, he let out a sigh of contentment. It may have been a small action in the grand scheme of things, but he felt confident that this would make them feel better, after fighting whatever monstrosity of week that appeared.

"I should clean up these dishes in the mean time. Wouldn't be right to leave Compa-san's kitchen in a state like this, now would it?"

Tsukamoto went back into the kitchen and headed over to the sink. He put the pan he cooked the dinner in into the sink and was about to turn the faucet on, but something happened before he could.

"..?"

In that moment, the lights in the apartment had suddenly went out. This wasn't limited to just Compa and Shizuki's apartment, but every other apartment on that floor had the same outage, and beyond that, the entire building.

The room was dark. Currently, there was no light that was on inside the multi-tenant apartment building. The only visible light that was avalable was the light from the surroundings outside the windows. The sky was already darkened due to the clouds covering it, and even if it was a clear sky, it would already be night as the sun had already set by now.

Shizuki walked over to the window and looked out. The buildings in the neighborhood had their lights turned on already due to the fact that it was already night. He wondered if a fuse box or something was blown in the building, causing a loss of power, but something else would happen that would suggest something else.

Outside the window, he saw the lights in other buildings lose their light one by one. Eventually, it happened at such a rate that the entire neighborhood had quickly became pitch black.

 _("A Blackout..?")_

He found it somewhat surprising that a nation with an advanced city would still have issues like this every now and then, but he shrugged it off. Though it sucked, he had no other choice but to wait for the problem to be fixed. He didn't even know what had caused the black out or where the source was, so he decided to remain in the apartment.

He let out a sigh.

"Man, why did something like this have to happen? I can't wash dishes in the dark like this, and I can't alleviate any boredom with the TV this time."

As he contemplated on what he should do next, he felt a vibration in his pocket.

His phone was ringing.

 _("They're calling me?")_

Shizuki thought that it was either IF or Compa that had been calling him for some reason, but when he took out his phone and saw the caller ID on the screen, he frowned. Instead of either of the two girls, it was a caller that said "Caller_Unknown", which displayed no avatar of any sort, showing only the generic black silhouette.

"..."

He was hesitant to answer, thinking as though it was a scam or robo caller of some kind, but something told him he should answer anyway.

So, listening to his gut, he finally answered, but he could not even say hello.

Because the person on the other end spoke first.

"Is this Tsukamoto Shizuki?"

"..? Yeah, how do you kno-"

"I will be happy to answer your questions, but right now, there's no time."

The person on the other end was obviously male, and his voice sounded like a he was somewhere between 17 and 21 years old. His voice had a cool tone to it, but there was also a sense of urgency layered behind it.

"Listen to me, they are coming for you, and I have no idea what exactly they intend to do with you when they do, but for your safety, it is imperative that you leave that room and the building immediately."

"Wha-"

Before Shizuki could make a protest, the apartment's door bell rang. After not answering it, the doorbell rang again. Before he even considered going to answer it, the man on the phone spoke once more.

"Do not answer the door. It seems they are already there."

After the doorbell rang for the third time, a loud banging sound was heard as the person on the other side was starting to repeatedly pound on the door.

This caused Tsukamoto to jump a bit. He had no idea what was going on, with these random sequence of events happening in a short period of time from each other. he thought the man on the phone seemed suspicious, but he had a really bad feeling about whoever was pounding on the door as if they were trying to break it down.

walking into his own room (The Guest Room), Shizuki closed the door gently and locked it before speaking on the phone in a low voice.

"W-What do I do? That door is my only way out and I can't jump out the window from this height!"

"Are there any ventilation air ducts in the apartment you're in? If so, and they are big enough to fit a human, go through that."

"Hey, just what do you think this is, a movie or something? I doubt there's actually-"

Tsukamoto paused mid sentence and looked over at the lower part of the wall just left of his bed. There was indeed an air vent in there, and it was also big enough for Shizuki to fit in it.

"Wow... talk about convenient."

"Have you found it?" said the man on the phone. "Go through it now. Once you find a way out, go down the hallway stairs and leave through the back exit."

He was about to ask a question, but the pounding grew louder and louder until a loud burst was heard. It sounded as though someone kicked the door off its hinges.

wasting no time, Shizuki knelt down and took the vent cover off before hurriedly crawling inside. Once he was inside, he placed the cover back on and began to crawl further inside, when he suddenly heard the loud noise of his room's door being kicked open.

"..!"

From his angle, he could see around four or five men in black rush into the room with what looked like assault rifles in their hands. Tsukamoto had felt a dangerous aura coming from the five men which made him shutter, but the sixth person who entered last gave off an even worse aura than the others.

"..."

It was a tall man, wearing a hooded dark cloak that wrapped around his person from head to toe. He couldn't tell if he had some kind of mask on or not, but the circles where his eyes should be were glowing red. Shizuki felt as though this person was someone he should avoid no matter what. There was something about him that just felt unnerving just by looking at him.

"Apartment's clear sir. There's no sign of the target anywhere."

"..There were clearly signs that he was here not that long ago. Spread out and find him. I don't care if you have to search this entire building, I want that boy found."

"Yes sir!"

The men wielding the assault rifle-like weapons quickly exited the room and presumably the apartment. The hooded man was the last to leave, which caused Shizuki to heave a sigh of relief. He was glad they were gone, but he didn't think it was a good idea to go back, so instead, he continued to crawl through the vent as quickly as he could, but then he realized he was still on call with the mysterious man.

"Hey, are you still there?"

But after he spoke into the phone, no voice came through. Instead, all he heard was the beeping sound that came after one leaving the phone on for some time.

 _("Gah! He hung up?! What am I supposed to do now?!")_

He had no idea who that person was on the other end on the phone, how he knew his name, phone number or how he knew those people would be after him, but he had no choice but to trust him, as it seemed as though he was helping him out.

But the man had hung up, likely having relayed what he needed to say to him and decided to leave it at that. Tsukamoto wanted an explanation and someone to talk to while he was avoiding those men in black, but he had no choice but to follow his instructions and manage the best he can on his own for now.

Shizuki continued to crawl through the vent. He continued to do so until he came across an opening just below him.

There was the room of the floor below him. Because it was dark, he couldn't see very well, but he wouldn't get anywhere by hesitating. so without another thought, Shizuki kicked the cover off and dropped down into the room. He was kind of surprised that he was able to successfully make a landing like that, and he really was starting to feel like his life had suddenly turned into an action movie.

But then something in front of him stopped him in his tracks.

"..."

Standing there was a woman who looked like she was a collage student with a surprised expression on her face. The fact that a strange falling through her ceiling was enough to warrant an expression like that, but that was only one thing.

The other thing was the fact that the woman had nothing on but her underwear.

"...!"

The woman let out a scream, but Shizuki quickly placed a hand over her mouth and spoke in almost a whisper.

"H-Hey, please don't scream. Just to clear up this misunderstanding, I'm not a burglar or some strange pervert. I'm kind of in a pinch right now, so I would appreciate it if you didn't scream or make any noises."

He removed his hand from the woman's mouth before backing away slowly. Even though it was dark, the faint lighting still made portions of her body visible to the naked eye.

After bowing his head in apology, he started to head for what he believed to be the front door.

"So um, just pretend I wasn't here! If some scary looking guys in black clothes come here, just pretend you didn't see me."

The collage aged woman didn't say anything, but she instead slowly nodded. Her understanding of the situation made him feel relieved. He thought about how differently things would have gone if this were in anime in which the woman would have likely made a big fuss and attacked him immediately, but he was thankful that didn't happen.

After thanking her, he opened the door and stepped out into the hallway.

Closing the door behind him, he looked in the hallway to see if there were any dark figures roaming about, but so far he didn't see any.

He was now on the 12th floor. He remembered the dark man with the red eyes saying something like checking the entire building for his presence, so he couldn't exactly relax. He didn't know how many of those people were in the building looking for him, but he didn't want to find out.

Tsukamoto roamed the hallways while trying to maintain a certain level of stealth about him. The whole situation had had him on edge. He was almost certain the Blackout was caused by those people and based on how they carried themselves, they meant business.

But there were so many questions flowing through his head. Who were those people and why were they specifically targeting him? He could understand if they were after IF and Compa──after all, they had fought along side the CPUs in the past, which meant that they would gain a lot of enemies, but those two girls were not here, and they were aiming directly for him. There should be no reason why anyone would be targeting someone who was practically a nobody.

 _("Ahh this is nuts. There's just never a dull moment in Gamindustri is there?")_

As he walked through the halls, he tried to think of who would be coming after him, but he drew some blanks in the end. Those men that invaded his apartment carried themselves far differently than those in the L.I.C.S and even Titan's Hand to some degree. He thought that they were likely out for revenge after ruining their plans, which meant that those two girls were also likely to be targeted. The more he thought about it, the more it seemed as though everything was set up. He even started to believe that the monster IF and Compa left to deal with was somehow involved as well.

Finding the stairwell that leads to the first floor, Shizuki started to walk down them. Taking the elevator would take too long. He wasn't stoked about going down multiple flights of stairs, but given the situation, he had no choice.

So he ran down the stairs. He continued to run as quickly as he could, while trying his best not to stumble and fall down the stairs.

By the time he reached the fifth floor, he heard the sound of a door slamming open followed by many footsteps above him.

"...!"

That was when his heart skipped a beat and he pushed himself to run even faster.

※※※※※

The battle in Gargan was an intense, yet short one.

As it stood, that town was under attack by a creature known as a Grimm. Apparently, sightings and encounters of these creatures were a rarity, since it was believed that the Grimm race had gone extinct centuries ago. However now, one of such creatures emerged and it had engaged in a fierce battle with two girls named IF and Compa, who had two special abilities which allowed them to turn the tide of the battle in their favor.

Though they were put on the ropes for a bit, the beast had finally been toppled and the town had been saved. Though there were some roads and structures that were damaged, surprisingly, some of the townspeople had only received minor injuries to which Compa was able to treat.

Having finished what they needed to do, the pair was currently on their way back home, driving through a highway that lead from Gargan to the main City on a green motorcycle.

"Well that was rough," muttered IF while she drove down the highway. "In the end, we never learned where that thing came from."

"Maybe mister Grimm was always there and was just hibernating?"

"If that was the case, then it would've been found a long time ago. Besides, Grimm don't just hibernate from what I know about them."

Because of the fact that the Grimm species had supposedly gone extinct centuries ago, very little was known about them. That being said, there was only a handful of appearances a Grimm has made in recent times, but those appearances were in the same realm of the likes of Bigfoot sightings. Only blurry images and eyewitness accounts of the creatures were the only proof of Grimm still living in modern times, things which were not definite proof and could be easily discredited given the circumstances.

But a Grimm had appeared tonight, and it attacked a populated area, which confirmed the rumors and online theories.

"Well, it doesn't matter. The thing's dead, so we can leave it at that for now."

"Are you sure Iffy? What if another Mister Grimm pops up?"

"I'll inform the Basilicom so they can keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary. For now, all we can do is── ?"

IF stopped mid-sentence and looked in the rear view mirror of her motorcycle and saw something strange. Behind them were at least three black vans, all of which had tinted windows to prevent the interior from being identified and was following them at a steady pace.

The reason why she stopped wasn't due to the presence of the Vans. She was already aware that a Van was tailing them. It was due to the fact that two more vans had shown up, making the number of followers three. Noticing her strange pause, Compa spoke.

"What's wrong?"

"...We're being followed. Those other two vans weren't there before."

To see what IF was referring to, she turned her head and looked over behind them to see that the vans were indeed behind them. Her eyes widened, but not because of the the pursuing vehicles.

It was because something was coming out the back of the pursuing vans.

"Um, Iffy?"

"..!"

Exiting the back of the vans were a group of small machines. They were black with only a small blue light on them, and they had the appearance of a standard Drone. At least three drones came out of each two of the Vans followed by two more in the other one and spread out openly as to not get in each other's way.

IF had a bad feeling about this. As they drove, she saw at least two of them homing in towards them as time went on. It didn't look like they had any weapons mounted on them, but she didn't want to find out what would happen if they got closer. So to that end...

"Compa, hang on!"

"..? Waaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!"

The Wind Walker pressed her foot harder on the bike's pedal, accelerating their speed to seventy five miles per hour, well above the speed limit for the highway they were on.

In response to this, both the pursuing vans and the drones that were released from them also picked up their speed.

It had developed into a full blown chase.

The two girls continued swerving in and out of lanes, passing by the many cars who were still adhering to the highway speed limit. Meanwhile, one of the drones continued to get closer despite them trying to use the traffic to their advantage to try and slow them down.

And without warning, the closest Drone suddenly accelerated and flew itself right into them.

"Wha──?!"

However, thanks to her quick thinking, IF moved out of the way just in time and narrowly evaded the incoming drone, but when it crashed, an explosive noise rang out on the highway as a firey blue light spread from where the drone crashed.

 _("Sheesh, what's with these people!?")_

Having seen the result of what would happen if she let those things nearby, IF had no choice but to respond now. She had to take out those drones.

Reaching into her coat she took out one of her semi-automatic pistols and took aim at the drone that was closing in from the left. She opened fire on the device which swayed a bit in order to avoid getting shot down. The sounds of Gun fire caused the other cars to accelerate and drive more irradically to get away from there as fast as possible. After a while, IF finally shot the drone down, causing it to explode in the same blue light as before.

But they couldn't relax yet.

"I-Iffy! Another one..!"

"..!"

Another drone had closed in on from the right. IF continued to drive forward, speeding past a large tanker truck. The drone flew straight for the pair, but it had accidentally flew straight into said truck's tanker and caused an even bigger explosion that disrupted the traffic behind them. In particular; one of the black vans was caught in the explosion, though it was unknown if they were destroyed or not──IF didn't really care as long as the pursuers' advance was impeded.

The two Vans continued their pursuit, and so did the remaining drones.

IF raised her weapon and continued to fire upon the drones, successfully taking out two of them while the third one stayed back.

 _("We're almost in the city... just a bit further and we can shake these guys off.")_

Being on a highway while being pursued by suicide bombing drones wasn't an ideal situation she wanted to be in. If it wasn't for the traffic, chances are, those drones would have obliterated them. She hated using the uninvolved pedestrians like this, but this was hardly the time to be wishy washy.

The main city was just up ahead. There, they had a better chance of evading the drones and the Vans that were still pursuing them since there were more corners they can turn which served as even greater obstacles for the enemy.

"Hey, how's it looking back there?!"

"T-They're still following us! And those flying thingies are getting closer..!"

"That so.."

IF clicked her tongue. As things stood, those drones were more dangerous than the vehicles that sent them at the moment. She couldn't keep this up for long, so she had to do something about it now.

"Compa, I want you to use your power on me."

"Eh? What are you planning Iffy?"

"Just trust me. I'm going to shake these guys."

"Well, if you say so..."

Compa seemed to be confused as to what she was intending to do, but as the drones neared them from all angles, she couldn't complain. So she used her ability, Heaven's Touch on IF while her arms were wrapped around her waist.

 _("Level Accel: Times Two──!")_

With those four words spoken in her head, a green flame-like aura manifested around her body. Gripping on the handlebars of the bike, the aura grew wider, eventually encompassing the entire bike, which resulted in its speed gradually increasing. Her prana continuously being released, the various important parts of the bike that could ensure maximum speed of movement were being enhanced, increasing the capability of the motorcycle.

The needle of the speedometer had already been damaged and could not be used. IF's prana had caused the rushing vehicle to transcend the laws of physics; already the speed was more than 400 kilometers per hour.

"...!"

Even with the assistance of Heaven's Touch, it was placing considerable strain on her body, as evidenced by the blood that was dripping through her clenched teeth. Even so, she had to get them away from those drones. The Vans tried to speed up, but they were simply too fast for those bulky vehicles. The drones also increased in speed, though it looked as though they were struggling to keep up.

 _("Tch, so they're that fast huh...")_

She surmised that this was the drones' top speed, noting the blue exhausted fumes coming from the back of the machines.

Like a comet blasting through the heavens, the pair sped into the main city, causing a trail of wind to kick up, blowing multiple small objects into the air as they passed through. She made a hard turn left and two of the drones crashed into the side of a building, exploding on contact.

Seeing that, IF finally deactivated Level Accel, causing the bike to slow down back to its original speed before hand.

"D-Did we lose them?" asked Compa who deactivated her ability as well.

"Not yet. There's still one Bogie left!"

Yes. There was still one drone that was closing in on them fast, not to mention the two vans were still pursuing them and they had started to catch up a little. Taking out her weapon, IF fired upon the drone once more.

The drone seemed to dance around in the air as it moved left and right──dodging the bullets that was coming its way. After dodging for a time, the drone closed in and made a beeline for the motorcycle. But they had made a right turn, which sent the drone flying into another car, turning it into a flaming heap of metal. Seeing this turn of events, Compa frowned.

"Iffy..."

"I know, Compa. I know."

Whoever was chasing them may have been dead set on killing the two girls, but it was clear that they did not care much about the civilians that were around. It seems it didn't matter how many people they killed in their wake, as long as those two were struck down, it was all justified.

IF ground her teeth a bit. She didn't know how many people were killed in this chase, but she swore that whoever was behind this, would have to answer to her before the night is over.

The two Vans were gradually getting closer. At one point, the roof of one of the vans had opened up and a man operating a turret of some kind had rose up. The turret was aimed at the two girls who were still speeding through the busy night streets of Leanbox and opened fire upon them.

To evade the oncoming bullets, the bike was swerving left and right, while also bypassing the cars that was around them. This had made for a difficult situation, since IF had to focus on evading bullets while trying to avoid crashing into other vehicles. If that happened, it would all be over.

With the click of her tongue, IF had pulled out something from her person.

It was a grenade.

"You damn lunatics..."

She pulled the pin with her mouth before throwing it behind them and onto the ground.

"See you in hell──!"

An explosive noise rang out, and the Van with the man in the turret was turned into a flaming heap and flew upwards, almost landing on the last van, causing it to swerve out of control for a bit. The pair sped off down a road that led into a large park full of trees. The only illumination came from the bike's headlights and the lamp posts lined up by that road.

"W-We did it desu!"

"Looks like it..."

Despite losing their pursuers, IF frowned. The whole situation didn't sit right with her. A grimm appeared out of nowhere and attacked a town, and right after they defeated it, some shady group attacked them on the road. It all seemed too convenient. IF had an idea on who might have been responsible for both events, but in all honesty, she didn't want to get into a fight if she could help it. She had lost some of her stamina during the fight with the Grimm and using her ability to get away from those people.

 _("At any rate, we should shake off the stragglers in this wooded park. If it is who I think it is behind this crap, we should head home immediately and──?!")_

Before she could finish her thought, she saw a crimson bolt close in on them from above.

"Oh Shi──!"

IF tried to swerve the motorcycle to the right, but it was already too late. The crimson bolt had struck the ground next to them and exploded next to them. Before they knew it, the girls were flung into the air and landed into the dark wooded park.

※※※※※

Chianti was bored. Unbelievably bored.

To speak honestly, she was somewhat jealous of her superior and his shitty hound dogs, since they got to have the most fun role of the operation. Unfortunately for her, because she and Korn were Snipers, they were stuck with the most boring job.

"...What a fucking pain."

Her job had been to clear the area of any potential witnesses so the operation to capture Tsukamoto Shizuki wasn't interfered with. She had hoped that she could snipe a few unsuspecting pedestrians while the lights in the neighborhood were shut off by the team. Darkness didn't matter──since their scopes had night vision, they could see just well.

However, the streets were totally empty. Save for a car speeding down the street every once and a while, she found no one she could snipe.

"Uaaagh! Goddamn it! It's been hours since I shot someone down! Not even shooting some couple's glasses is going to work for me any more! I need to shoot someone and I need to shoot them now!"

She couldn't take it any more. Due to spending many years, sniping enemies in warzones and political enemies in the comforts of their homes, Chianti developed a taste for killing. That taste quickly became a fascination, which eventually grew into an addiction to sniping. She felt as though she could never be at ease without shooting a person down. She was especially fixated on head-shots, which she feels are the most definite method of killing someone for good. As such, she was always sent on assassination missions just to get in her kills for the day, because if she didn't, she would go into an unstable frenzy.

To state it accurately, sniping had become her very own drug, and if she didn't kill at least one person, she would quite literally, suffer in a manner similar to withdraw symptoms.

"You know what, fuck this job." Chianti spat out as if she had an awful taste in her mouth. "I'm gonna go somewhere where I can shoot a hella lot more people. I don't care if that guy bitches to me about insubordination, I'm not wasting anymore time dealing with this bullshit. Wanna come Korn?"

Chianti continued to look through the scope of her sniper rifle as she spoke. She was hoping there would be at least one person would appear so she would have a good reason to stay, but she was seriously considering abandoning the mission altogether just to start picking off random civilians.

But something didn't seem right.

Normally, Korn would have rejected her and told her to stop complaining and focus on the mission, but that didn't happen. Korn never replied.

Slightly confused, Chianti looked away from the scope and turned towards the direction Korn was located. That was when she saw it.

"..!"

Korn was there. He was in the exact same spot he was while they were scanning the area for wanderers. Korn never left his position.

 **The only thing was, he was missing his head.**

"W-Wha...?!"

A terrible feeling sank into Chianti's gut. Someone has killed him, and they did so undetected.

Never mind the who of the question, how long was Korn dead?

How long had he been like that?

While questions started to race through her head, something else happened.

Her arm was suddenly removed from her right shoulder and a certain red liquid painted the rooftop, parts of it that weren't already dyed red from Korn.

"A-AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

In that same instance, she felt a sharp pain in her leg. A blade sliced her leg, causing her to fall to her knees while holding her shoulder where her arm was removed.

"G...Gaaaaaaahhh...!"

The assassin cried out in pain as she held her shoulder. That was her sniping arm, the arm she always used to pull the trigger and it was sliced off in an instant. She would go crazy about the possibility of not being able to snipe again, but something else took precedence over that.

"A..A..Ahhhhhhhhh!"

Strange tattoo like markings started to appear on her skin and her entire body began to feel an excruciating agony. It felt as though she had fallen into a pool of lava and was being burned alive, but the pain felt deeper than that. It felt deeper in some odd sense, but she couldn't figure out what it was. The pain was too much. It was too much, too much, too much, too much, too much, too much!

And then she heard a young man's voice speak to her.

"Konzetsu no Aku: The Sword of Evil Eradication. As the name would suggest, it is a sword that eradicates those who have been tainted by evil. It doesn't matter if the wound you receive is small cut, judgement befalls those it is cut by."

When did that person arrive? From what it sounded, he was the one who killed Korn, but she could no longer worry about that now.

"N..No...I can't... I can't...!"

Pain struck her heart in more ways than she could comprehend. Emotions she never really felt before suddenly flowed through her mind like a rushing Tsunami.

Sorrow.

Pain.

Regret.

Despair.

Disgust.

Self Hatred.

It all became too much for her to bear for very long. Something was clearly affecting her in a way that was driving her to insanity. It was not because of the wounds she received, but rather something unexplainable, perhaps a curse.

With her sanity in shambles, Chianti let out a terrible scream that sounded as though an animal had its live force slowly drained from its body.

"Your heart has been tainted with so much darkness, you are beyond redemption. As such, neither heaven nor hell awaits you in the afterlife. Only eradication."

"Ah...aaah..."

And with those final cries, the sniper called Chianti was truly dead.

※※※※※

Tsukamoto Shizuki had no idea how long he had been running.

After he heard those foot steps rushing down the stairs, he tried his best to make it to the first floor and to find the back entrance like the man on the phone said. To that end, he had been running all over the place trying to find the back entrance while running away from the people who were now hot on his trail.

So after making many roundabout turns, he ran through what looked like a boiler room and finally found what looked like the entrance he was looking for.

Catching a glimpse of the men in black entering the boiler room, Shizuki slammed the door shut and frantically looked around. On the left side of him was a wall──a dead end, and on the right side was a chain link fence. The door for it was locked so he had to climb up over it.

But doing so would take too long. If those men came out while he was trying to climb over the fence, it would be over.

And so, he saw a blue dumpster and jumped straight into it, closing the lid on his way in.

And right after he did that, the men in black burst through the door.

"..."

He heard footsteps storm out of the building and stop right outside the dumpster. Shizuki placed his hands over his mouth in order to prevent himself from making any noises that would give away his position.

It seems as though they stopped in front of the dumpster, but they did not know he was in there. Instead, they likely thought he jumped the fence and ran off into the night.

Then, as if to further increase his anxiety, another pair of footsteps, followed by synthesized breathing was heard.

And an awful voice spoke.

"Status?"

"It seems like the target has jumped the fence and escaped."

"Then what are you waiting for? Spread out and find him. I will not accept any failure from you, do you understand?"

"Yes sir! Hound Dogs, fan out!"

After that little exchange, the sound of the chain link fence being cut was heard and the many footsteps running into the night rang out. He waited until the footsteps got far away enough where they could no longer be heard, but even after that, he still couldn't relax.

He didn't leave the dumpster.

Instead, he tried to calm himself down by breathing into his hands.

 _("W-What the heck is going on tonight? Who are those people, and why are they after me?")_

It was completely baffling to him. Why was he being the target of a hit squad? It seemed as though they wanted him alive, but that only made him more anxious.

 _("Is it because I helped take down Linda's group? Or is it because of my abilities..?")_

He felt the first one was more plausible, since it would be likely for a remnant of that group to exact revenge for their comrades, but as he observed before, these people were in a completely different league from the L.I.C.S. The way they carried themselves was much more intense than all of those guys put together.

He thought back to that conflict where he heard something that may be related to what was happening now.

 _ **"──Wouldn't you like to know? I've got my sources and I ain't tellin' you!"**_

 _ **"──Is that so? They wouldn't happen to go by the name, Titan's Hand would they?"**_

 _ **"──But that's not all. Apparently they got that stuff from a third party. Care to tell us who they are?"**_

 _ **"──Hah! You kiddin'? If I told you their name, those guys would kill me, and I don't plan on dyin' anytime soon!"**_

Looking back on it, it was starting to make sense. Apparently, there was an unknown third party that was operating behind the scenes in that incident where they were supplying weapons like the Nashorn to Titain's Hand and the L.I.C.S. Apparently, these people were so serious that even Linda was afraid of them. However, since Shizuki and his party had survived the assassination via the Gleam Eyes and had derailed the L.I.C.S' plot to incite war...

"They've decided to come after us..."

Tsukamoto let out a sigh and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Damn it, why did it have to turn out like this? Just a while ago, we were all laughing together and now, some shady group is trying to kill us..."

Truth be told, he was scared. He was scared for the safety of his comrades now that he realized that they would not be at their full capacity if they were attacked, and though he loathed to admit it, he was scared for his life.

He didn't think he would ever feel terror like this before.

The Cave Dweller never gave him this sense of dread.

The Nashorn never gave him this much dread.

The Gleam Eyes came close, but for a different reason.

Against that was the threat of total annihilation. He could feel as though a massive hurricane was coming and there was nothing he could do to stop its advance.

But these Hound Dogs, as he heard them call themselves, they were something else. The one that really chilled him was their leader who wore a mask and a dark hooded cloak. With him, there wasn't the mercy of a quick destruction like the other aforementioned threats.

This one felt as though he would slowly torture you and refuse to let you die, just so he could savor every moment of it. He may looked like a human, but beneath it all was a terrible monster. A monster he wanted to avoid no matter what.

"I have to leave this place...I have to find Compa-san!"

Even in this situation, that person floated into top of his head. He began to think if part of the reason why those other threats didn't terrify him as much as the current one was because she was always with him during those events. He recalled how he was being overcome with an oppressive fear and she had held his hand to calm him down. Looking back now, it seemed as though he was happier or in a better mood overall whenever she was with him.

He didn't want to lose that connection to her.

Having something happen to her scared him almost as much as being taken away from there, never to see her again, death or other wise.

Shizuki took out his phone and tried to call Compa, but something happened before he had the chance to.

His Danger Sense had activated, and a fist of a bionic arm punched straight into the dumpster.

"...!"

The hand the grabbed onto the interior wall of the dumpster and began to tear off the wall as well as the top of the dumpster apart. With this, Shizuki was completely exposed. And the one who did it was...

"...I found you, Tsukamoto Shizuki."

The Hound Dog Leader muttered in a cold voice as his red eyes stared directly into Tsukamoto's.

His heart sank. The object of his fears had somehow found him and was inches away from grabbing him. Without wasting any time, the blue haired youth scrambled to his feet and took off running through the chain link fence which had been cut open.

He ran.

He ran as hard as his legs could carry him. He didn't want to stay anywhere near that monster. There was no way he would let him get him.

 _("I can't stay here... I have to leave... I have to find Ai-san... I have to find Compa-san and run away as far as possible from these people!")_

He didn't know where he was running to. He didn't know where Compa and IF currently were, or if they were alright for that matter. But still, he had to find them and get away as far as possible. He was running in total darkness as the neighborhood still hadn't restored their power, and it was now starting to rain.

But he didn't care. If it was to get away from that monster and meet up with his friends again, he would gladly welcome that darkness.

That was when he felt something hit his back.

"Ahh..?"

It was a dart of some kind. he slowly turned around and saw that the man who called himself The Jaeger had shot him with a gun of some kind, using ammo to subdue him rather than kill him.

At that moment, Shizuki collapsed onto the ground and felt his legs locking up.

This paralyzing feeling had started to spread through out his whole body until he couldn't even drag his body away.

Still lying on the ground, he saw the Jaeger slowly make his way to Tsukamoto.

 _("S-Stay away...")_

He mentally pleaded, though it was futile.

 _("Just stay away...!")_

The man was now only five meters away from him and was closing in.

 _("Why..? Why are you doing this? Why are you after us? All we wanted was to enjoy our everyday life together without any problems!")_

Before he realized it, the tall figure of the Jaeger towered over the youth, with his red eyes glowing as always. In his disturbing voice, he spoke to him.

"Struggle is pointless. You will come with us and give us what we want."

 _("I don't want to lose them. I don't want to lose my connection with those two..! I don't care what kind of agenda you have, or what ridiculous goal you're trying to achieve. All I care about is preserving my current life here with Compa-san and Ai-san... so just leave us the fuck alone and get lost!")_

With that, he managed to clench one of his fists, but that was all. Whatever was injected into him prevented him from moving his entire body. He couldn't run away, much less fight.

It was over.

There was no way he was getting out of this.

The bionic hand of the Jaeger reached for the youth in an attempt to grab him.

He forced his eyes shut and braced himself for what would come next. While he did, the faces of the two girls he was worried came into his mind one final time, as he shuddered at the possibility of never seeing them again.

And then something happened.

"...?"

For some reason, the Jaeger pulled himself away from the youth and jumped back a few meters. Tsukamoto wondered why he suddenly stopped coming after him, but then he quickly received his answer.

Standing in front of him was a young man, with dark hair tied in a ponytail, his clothes were as black as the night, and in his hand was a sword, possibly a katana of some kind. Shizuki couldn't quite tell due to his hazy mind from the dart and the poor lighting, but then he heard a familiar voice speak, though it was not addressed to him.

"I believe that is quite enough... you G.H.Q scum."

※

 _The Hunters and the Hound Dogs prowling the streets have cornered the prey they have longed for. With the wheels of fate now in motion, the Secret War between worlds begins at last._

 ** _Episode 6:_**

 ** _The Hunter and the Hound Dogs_**

* * *

Afterword

To the readers who found this story, welcome. To the old readers who still stuck around waiting to see what happens next, welcome back. Before I get into things, I want to address the lack of an afterword for the previous entry. I think from now on, I'll add these on certain episodes while not doing so for others. I don't think it's necessary to keep putting them at the end of every entry and I'll only add then to address certain things and whatnot. Plus, it's good for cliffhangers carrying more to it by not having any info explained right after, so I hope you won't mind the change in that regard.

Now, onto the ep. This is the part where the main story truly begins, with the main threat finally coming into the forefront. Overall, this one though had a lighthearted and comedic start, it became the most intense and darkest ep. so far. That's not to say the rest of the series will be grimm dark like it seems like now, but overall, you can tell there will be a serious tone present through this story, especially when it pertains to the current threat and the other things associated with them.

I did warn you guys that this would deviate from what you would expect from a typical neptunia story, and from here going forward, those deviations will become much more apparent as time goes on. If you're looking for a story that takes multiple themes and elements and mixes them together, along with an overall serious tone, you may be pleased, but if you're looking for a neptunia story with the same tone as canon, then this may not be for you.

So, our new antagonist is called the Jaeger who is a mercenary of sorts. If you couldn't already tell, he's from earth and is currently hunting down our heroes, mainly Shizuki. As you can see, he absolutely hates crinimals and terrorists, which I find ironic since he is in fact the leader of a team that's made up of convicted felons and terrorists. His faceclaim is Death Gun from SAO but his personality is more in line with that of the Punisher with shades of Vader mixed in.

As for Rosalia, her true identity will be revealed in the next episode. I kind of left a hint or two that pertains to who she might be, so you may already know the answer, but if not, do stay tuned. I think you'll be pleased with the reveal.

The man in black - those who read the prototype version and the people who helped with the story knows who he is, though I changed his first name and altered some of his abilities. I think you may find his weapon interesting as you've already seen its primary affect, but you'll see it do quite some more in the future.

Anyway, stay tuned for Episode 7: Soldiers of the Secret War. Just a warning, there will be some exposition, but there will also be an interesting fight scene, so it won't be a total bore.

On a side note, it would be kind of cool if someone made some fan art for the story, like an illustration or something. I actually tried to convenience a friend of mine to make something, but I'm a poor lad and thus they weren't onboard with it. Oh well, Se la ve.

And I'm not saying you haavve to, but just saying, if someone came up with something interesting, I'd be pretty pleased .

That's all I have to say, like, follow, favorite, leave reviews pleaseee. Ever since I rebooted the story, people stopped leaving reviews ;w;

This is Kino, and I lay my pen down for the night.


	7. Episode 7: Soldiers of the Secret War

**_Episode 7_**

 ** _Soldiers of the Secret War_**

IF had no idea how it happened, but when she eventually came to, she found herself in a clearing somewhere in the park.

"Uaagh.."

She slowly sat up from where she laid and rubbed her head. She was confused as to what had happened. The last thing she remembered was driving on a highway with Compa after just barely exterminating a specific type of monster. Shortly afterwards, they were chased and attacked by three vans, using some kind of drones in order to take them out. However, thanks to cunning and perhaps, pure luck, they finally managed to avoid getting blown up and shot.

But this posed an obvious question.

 _("...What happened?")_

She was sure that they had escaped from their pursuers; all of the drones were destroyed, two of the vans were definitely destroyed, and the third van had likely crashed into a building somewhere.

She thought that somehow, they had managed to launch an attack on them even after they had long since escaped the final Van, or something else; there was another pursuer unknown to them. That flashing red bolt did not originate from any ordinary weapon.

Having realized that Compa was also nowhere to be seen, she started to look around for her presence.

But then some object rolled across the ground toward IF.

"..?"

It took her a few seconds for it to fully register, but when she realized what had been kicked her way, IF's eyes grew wide in shock with a tinge of horror to it.

"..!"

Staring back at her were eyes almost as wide as hers, with a similar expression on the object's features──perhaps there was something more than just mere shock. On top of that, brown but short hair was also seen on its top, albeit messy and disheveled. It was clear what this was.

It was clearly a human head; and the head of the person who contacted them about the Grimm.

 _("You have to be kidding me...")_

In her line of work, she had seen a lot of things, but she was still not hardened enough to the point where such things never bothered her. Seeing disembodied limbs and body parts disturbed her still, and it was made even worse with the fact that someone she had just spoken to hours ago was now just a head.

"Ow, owwy! Let me go..!"

Taking her out of her shock, she heard the cries of her friend Compa and looked over to their general direction, only to find the girl in question currently being restrained by two men in black outfits. Just where did they come from?

"Wha──"

Before IF could demand an answer as to what they were doing, a certain, yet familiar haughty laugh echoed out around them, and then a figure emerged from the darkness.

"Oh my, it looks as though you've survived the prelude. Good──this means I can finish this properly."

Standing there was none other than the obvious culprit behind tonight's events──Rosalia. She stood there, holding her spear as usual, but something was different about her.

Her armor was black as always, shining like enamel, but it looked much fiercer than she remembered, and it had a revealing design. For some reason, IF thought this type of outfit suited her much better, given her personality. But that wasn't something she could worry about right now.

"Rosalia! You──!"

"Oh? It looks like you still have enough fire in your heart to glare at me like that. Perfect~ But can you muster up the strength to oppose me, given your already weary state?"

IF placed her hand over her shoulder. She was starting to feel some of her wounds from her fight with the Grimm starting to open. Needless to say, she was not at 100% for another battle.

"What the hell is your problem?! The Gleam Eyes crap, working with that peon, Linda, this whole stunt, what is it you're trying to pull here?!"

IF never liked Rosalia to begin with, but after the incidents she was involved with had shown her true colors, she had truly detested this woman. In response to her question, Rosalia gave a thin smile.

"What is it I am trying to pull, you say? I believe that answer should be obvious by now. After all, it has been my life long dream to throw the established order into chaos."

"Into chaos...?"

IF stared at her quizzically for a bit. She couldn't place her finger on it, but she felt as though she had heard this term from somewhere before──or rather, from someone else.

"I won't indulge you any further, since this is the night you will die, but I will tell you something I think you should be aware of."

"And what's that?"

"Tsukamoto Shizuki was it? I believe that boy is going to be lost now."

"..?!"

IF's eyes widened when she mentioned that name. Compa, who was being restrained by the two people in black also gave a slight jump in her shoulders upon hearing this. But before they could inquire any further, Rosalia continued.

"Even as we speak, my liaison and his subordinates are already on their way to capture him. Everything that happened tonight was merely part of a plan to capture him──the Grimm, the attack on the highway, it was all necessary to lead you away from him and weaken you so you can be dealt with more easily."

"You..what the hell do you want with Shizu!?"

"I do not care particularly for that person, but apparently he had an item of great importance that my associates want. Oh, and please don't ask me if I know what that item is──even they wouldn't tell me that much."

It was starting to make sense. She was already suspicious of the Monster's sudden appearance, but with Rosalia's exposition, it all but confirmed that this was all staged. But what item was so important that Rosalia and her associates would go this far to obtain it? During the time she knew Shizuki, he never once mentioned holding onto anything of significant importance.

But regardless of that, she could not let this continue. With a pained grunt, the brown haired girl rose to her feet and two longswords appeared in her hands. They resembled the short blades she always used, but were of a longer brand.

Seeing this, Rosalia smiled.

"Oh? Don't tell me you plan to fight me like this. Even if you some how survive this, that brat is likely in their hands by now. There is no way he can stand up to armed soldiers."

The spear Rosalia's hand suddenly began to distort until its original shape was gone. The spear now was black and had a similar design to that of her armor, and along with it came an ominous glow, that symbolized death.

"But no matter, you will die here so you need not worry about him. Now then, come and show me you are truly worthy of that title you're so proud of~!"

Rosalia flourished her transformed spear around before assuming a combat stance. IF got into a stance of her own and prepared herself. Compa could not use Heaven's Touch, due to the men that were restraining her, which meant that IF could not use her own ability for prolonged periods, and along with that, she was still a bit hurt from the previous fight and was not at her fullest. If anyone was at a disadvantage, it was certainly her.

But even so, she had to defeat the person before her. Not just because she had been a thorn in their side for a while now, but so that the three of them can return home safely.

With the rain beginning to rapidly strike the ground, a fierce competition between swords and spear began.

※※※※※

In the dark, wet streets of leanbox, two figures stood in that vastly empty space.

One was a young man, around the age of 17 or 18, garbed in black clothes, and carried a Japanese sword with him. For the young man in particular, he had a strangely intimidating presence that made him distant and often difficult for others to approach. His eyes were so sharp, he glare from those would make anyone wither from its gaze, as if their souls were struck down.

But the person opposing him had an equally strong and threatening presence.

A man whose features cannot be seen──dark hooded robe, and a metallic skull mask underneath with glowing red eyes, stood ten meters away from that person. He was not afraid of the mysterious youth that appeared before him so suddenly, but he automatically realized he was someone he shouldn't take lightly.

And so, that man, the mercenary called the Jaeger, sought confirmation.

"...Are you with them?"

The youth did not indulge him enough to answer. He only continued to snare at the Jaeger as though he was analyzing him. Not wanting this person who was from the opposition get in the way of his mission, he used the radio embedded into his mask to contact his subordinates, but there came no response.

"Chianti, Korn, respond."

Static filled his ears instead of a response from those people. It was then that he realized just what had happened.

"You killed them."

"Those people were corrupted by such intense darkness, my sword easily exorcised them."

In a voice devoid of any descernable emotion, the young man had finally spoke whilst lifting his blade slightly, as if to show the red stains on it to him.

"Those other men have been dealt with as well. Needless to say, you are alone now."

"I see. Then you are indeed with them."

Having reached that conclusion, the Jaeger reached into his cloak and pulled out a long but dark object. It was a black sword that had a futuristic design to it. It seemed as though a fight was unavoidable.

"Before we start this, what's your name?"

"To which name are you referring to? My birth name, or **_that name_**?"

The youth mused, before getting into a stance. The Jaeger did not respond, though he probably knew what he was referring to.

"You too, also have plenty of evil that must be purged, so I will give you my 'name' anyway."

The Jaeger gripped his blade tighter as he felt an intense pressure from the youth before him.

"I am Eradicus771 - The Demon Which Exorcises Darkness. Prepare yourself."

As though that signified the start of the battle, the youth in black started to run before kicking himself off the ground and closed in on the Jaeger within seconds.

Upon closing the distance between them, the youth's sword clashed with the Jaeger's causing a loud metallic sound to ring out. And with this, an intense dance had started. Both men had been moving at speeds great enough to be called superhuman, with loud clashes between blades repeatedly striking away the silence that had previously occupied those dark streets.

It seemed as though each strike was gaining in intensity, the shockwaves blowing away the raindrops that were currently falling. At some point, the Jaeger had managed to raise his sword and bring it down with great strength.

His sword collided with the youth once more, though he had expected this. He had wanted to get an opportunity to pin the enemy down so he could not attack again. The Jaeger let out a smile underneath his mask. He had to admit, it had been a while since he fought a skilled opponent like this, so despite tonight's setbacks, he was enjoying this

The youth looked as though he was struggling a bit whilst caught underneath the Jaeger's blade. However, he didn't appear to be panicked.

"Es ist groß... ('it is big...') Es ist klein! ('it is small!')"

With that odd chant, strength gathered in the youth's arms and legs. The Jaeger could see that glowing lines, almost like circuitry one would find in machinery appeared on those limbs, and with tremendous force, the Jaeger and his blade were knocked away.

Like a bullet, the youth was shot toward the Jaeger and his blade once again met his own, and the dance continued. Since his enemy was using some kind of phenomena to enhance his body, the Jaeger couldn't afford to hold back anymore. Putting more efforts into his swings, the Jaeger's speed and strength increased more to match his opponent's.

after several more strikes, the two both delivered a powerful one that sent both sliding back by five meters. The Jaeger moved forward to continue his assault, but rather than meet his strike head on like he had been doing up til that point, the youth jumped about a few meters into the air, taking out three disk-shaped objects with blades at the ends of them.

Holding them in one hand, he spun around a bit in the air while throwing each of them one at a time at their intended target. The Jaeger in response lifted his blade and deflected each of them with his weapon in one hand.

The youth had landed back to the ground and was now ten meters away from him. The glowing lines on his arms and legs vanished, but his sword remained raised and his gaze unwavering.

"Impressive," muttered the Jaeger. "You're the first one to give me this much of a work out in ages."

"Do you expect me to thank you? I have no reason to do so towards someone who is clearly tainted beyond redemption."

"Hah," he laughed. "You go on and on about eliminating evil, yet you are no different from me. We are both monsters who have committed irredeemable acts, all while working for organizations that's killed a lot of damn people in our world."

"That may be so, but at least I am not that much of a coward to use justice and peace as an excuse to conceal the ugliness."

The youth spat out those words. He clearly had some degree of contempt for the masked man before him, given what he knows of his history. Not wanting to drag this out any further, his blade had become surrounded in an oppressive surge of energy──a surge of red light that looked as though it would destroy anything by touching it.

The Jaeger felt the oppressive air that blade was giving off. He did not know what this was, but he did understand this: If that man uses his blade, I will die. That was the conclusion he reached. The Jaeger may have been an extraordinary mercenary whose body had been enhanced by cutting edge science, but the man before him had supernatural traits that not even he fully understood. He was likely using the same phenomena as that woman uses, therefore, he could not win against something like that──not in this circumstance.

So, he was left with only one choice. The snipers were taken out. The rest of Hound Dog was eliminated. That young man likely had other allies that could be deployed at any time. seeing the disadvantage he had, the Jaeger sheathed his weapon and turned his back to him.

"This isn't over. We will be back."

With those words, signifying his defeat, yet announcing his plan to return, the masked man walked into the darkness.

※

Tsukamoto Shizuki saw it all. His vision was fading and his body was completely frozen, but he saw what had happened.

"A...Ah.."

If he had to be honest, he felt as though both of those men were terrifying in their own respect. They both radiated murderous intent that even he felt from where he was currently at, but the one who still scared him the most was the Jaeger. That man had displayed his true strength in the fight with a similarly strong person, which unnerved him greatly. He was not only terrifying, but he had the strength and skill to show for it.

He noticed that the man in black's sword stopped glowing and it had now been sheathed. Shizuki could no longer talk at this point and his vision was growing darker, but he understood one thing: He had been saved that night. He didn't know who this person was or what his intentions were, but he was thankful that he showed up.

And before he knew it, he had slipped into unconsciousness.

※※※※※

When Shizuki had opened his eyes, they were met with a bright white light shining down on him from above.

"Mmm..."

His head felt groggy and his body felt stiff, and felt as though he had been aged by 44 years. He slowly sat up from the surface of what he was laying on and rubbed his eyes.

"Where is this..?"

Tsukamoto looked around as his vision started to become clearer. The last thing he remembered was laying on the cold ground while it was raining, after being chased by a certain man in a skull mask. After that, another young man appeared and fought him off and sent the masked man back into whatever darkness he came up out of. But now, he was no longer outside in the rain.

He was in a room with mostly silver walls, floors and ceiling, made out of some refined alloy. Within the rooms were some kind of bedding that reminded him of some kind of hospital or infirmary, one of which he was currently sitting on. From what he could tell, the room was pretty spacious, but it didn't look like there was anyone in the room with him.

"This trend of me getting knocked out and waking up in some weird place is getting old real quick... just what did I get myself into **this time**?"

Having made that remark at himself, he got down from the bed and got to his feet. His legs especially felt stiff, but he felt like they would get better if he moved around a bit more.

 _("Whatever that guy injected into me seems to be wearing off... maybe its effects expired after a certain time, or I was injected with an antidote?")_

He had no way of knowing, since he had no idea how long he was unconscious, but he felt like it couldn't have been no longer than 15 minutes.

Shizuki started to examine the room some more. Over in the right side of the room was a machine that looked like the kinds used to take X-Rays of patients, though it looked as though it was way more advanced than one found in any hospital back home.

And just left of the machine, there was a desk of some kind with a bunch of papers on it. He was hesitant about exploring the place right off the bat, so he decided to see if he could find some clues in the room he was currently in. He went over to the desk and started to look through them. Most of it was written in languages he could not understand, so he couldn't get any useful information from it. Aside from several English words popping up in the text which he could read decently enough, he couldn't do anything with the information.

As he was looking through the pages, something caught his attention.

"..?"

The paper unlike the others, had no text on it, and instead there was only an image on it. Tsukamoto examined more closely when he saw something disturbing. The image was that of a human body, or more specifically, the X-Ray of a human body. The body looked to be male and nothing really stood out aside from one thing.

In an area of the chest that stood parallel from the Heart was an object that was no bigger than the size of a baseball. It appeared to be blue in color and it had the appearance of a jewel of some kind. What's more, the object in question also seemed to have a glow to it as he looked at it more.

"What is this...?"

He looked around the room. Currently, there were no other patients other than himself, and none of the beds other than the one he awoke in looked as though they've been recently used. This gave him a bad feeling. He went to the obvious conclusion that this was an X-Ray of his own body, and that that blue thing was very much in his body. With this discovery, several questions were raised.

What is that thing?

How did it get inside me?

How long has it been there?

He had no way to tell whether it had been put inside of him several minutes ago, or if he had the thing there since birth, but he wanted to find out more of what was going on. Many things had happened that night one after another, and he felt as though he was entitled to some explanation.

But before he could do anything else, one of the doors of the room automatically opened and someone entered.

"Oh, you're finally awake it seems."

The person who entered was a twenty-something year-old looking woman with notable pale skin, long, unkempt, pale blue hair which was tied into a right-side ponytail and blue eyes which seemed to always be sleepy. Upon first glance, Tsukamoto wondered if the woman was getting any sleep at all, due to the pair of dark circles beneath her eyes, which made it look as though she could collapse into a deep sleep at any given moment.

She was wearing a beige-colored uniform of some kind and in the breast pocket of her jacket was a small blue teddy bear resting inside. If it wasn't for the fact that her features looked weary from lack of rest, she would have been seen as beautiful by most.

"I came back to revive you so you can be debriefed on your situation, but this works too."

The woman said so in a voice devoid of energy. For some reason, it didn't feel like that was directed at Shizuki and felt more like something one would mutter to themselves.

"Um... I got questions. **Lots** of questions."

"Yes, I'm sure you do, and they will be answered in due time." said the woman. "How are you feeling?"

"My body feels about as stiff as Ai-san is most of the time... but other than that, I'm okay... I think."

"I see," The woman nodded, ignoring his sarcastic remark and continued. "In case you were wondering, you are in sickbay aboard the inter-dimensional aircraft called the U.S.S Sargasso, currently positioned 50,000 feet above Leanbox."

"Uh-huh... wait. Fifty Thousand feet? Inter-dimensional aircraft? What is this? Who are you?"

His head was still groggy from what happened recently, so he was a bit slow on catching up with the info given to him. However, when he did catch up, it was starting to sound a bit more crazier than he initially thought.

"Reina Rosenthal. I'm the Analytics Officer of this vessel. I also have secondary duties as a medical officer."

 _("Well, that explains **that**.")_

Shizuki mentally remarked, noting the bags under her eyes and sleepy expression. He didn't know what an 'Analytics Officer' was, but it probably sounded stressful. Plus, she had to juggle that role with being responsible for the well-being of the ship's crew. No wonder she looked exhausted.

"I'm Shizuki. Tsukamoto Shizuki. I'm not sure what the heck's going on but since it looks like you saved me, thanks for doing that."

"Mm, not at all. You should know that our vessel is completely cloaked, so you should have no fear of those people getting you here, Shin."

Shizuki nodded in understanding, but caught onto an error she made at the end.

"Uh, I don't mean to be that guy, but it's Shizuki, not Shin..."

"Is that so? I see... my bad, Shin."

"Hey, don't apologize then make the same mistake twice damn it!"

Tsukamoto resisted the urge to facepalm upon her not even attempting to correct herself, but he decided to let it slide. He assumed that she was delirious from her lack of sleep.

" ...Anyway, we'll be seeing the person in command of this aircraft soon. She will be explaining the gist of things regarding your situation."

Without saying anything else, Reina Rosenthal turned away from him and headed out the doors which opened automatically.

"If you would follow me..."

※

Shizuki and Reina left sickbay and were walking down hallways of the U.S.S Sargasso. The hallway's general design didn't look that much different from the sickbay, which had silver walls, floors and ceiling of futuristic design making up most of the interior. It was plain in design and was not really interesting to look at. Tsukamoto had no idea how big the ship was, but it felt as though he was in some impressively sized building, as the interior of the ship's hallways had several corridors, many doors that led to many rooms, and multiple elevators at certain points of the halls.

These halls were not empty. As Shizuki walked by, he saw multiple men and women walking around to their destinations. They all seemed to be wearing the same kind of uniform, which was similar in design to Reina's but were of white and blue coloration. Seeing this many people in uniform made him feel as though he stood out like a sore thumb, though none of the passing crew seemed to mind his presence. Overall, it didn't even feel like he was on a ship hovering fifty thousand feet in the air at all.

After walking for a bit, the two were stopped at a door which next to it, said, 'Commander's Office' written above a small panel of some kind. After Reina pressed a button on the panel, a voice said, "Come in" through some kind of speaker and the doors opened up.

Upon entering, Shizuki could tell the difference. Unlike the Sickbay and hallways which had plain silver walls and flooring, this room had walls that were painted in a warm beige color while the floor was covered by a red rug with golden lining at the ends. On the walls were several small windows and they each had red curtains on both sides of the windows. He could also see a brown desk just sitting in front of the two main windows of the office.

And sitting behind that desk was...

"Ah, I take it our guest is fully awake?"

Sitting behind the desk was a young woman who appeared to be around Shizuki's age, but she had an air of maturity about her that made her seem as though she were much older than her physical appearance would indicate. She had long silky blond hair, that of which was tied into a right-side Ponytail. Her eyes were a pale blue color and she wore a white and blue outfit that looked like an odd cross between a Uniform and a office work lady's outfit. Looking at her, Shizuki though she looked like someone who came from a rich family, given the refined aura she exuded.

"Yes," Reina spoke. "The effects of the paralysis has worn off via the injection I gave him, so he should be fine now."

"I see," the young woman mused as her gaze was centered on Tsukamoto. "I'm certain this all seems very fascinating to you doesn't it? Waking up in another world, fighting unsightly monsters and machines, encountering an assassin, and now finding yourself on a inter-dimensional aircraft, I'm sure this will make for quite a perplexing story to tell in the future."

"Fascinating? I think the word you're looking for is crazy... Never mind the crap I dealt with with Compa and Ai-san, I just had one of the most terrifying experiences of my life, running away from those hound dog people! I just want to know what the heck has been going on tonight..."

He didn't like how she was downplaying the events of the past several days he went through and making light of it. Speaking of which, had they been watching him the whole time?

Taking note of Shizuki's mild frustration, the blonde woman continued.

"Well, of course you would see it like that, but I digress. You certainly deserve an explanation for some of this madness you've been subjected to, so let me introduce myself. I am Aurelia A. Cromwell, commander of the U.S.S Sargasso. Welcome aboard, Tsukamoto Shizuki."

The young woman who introduced herself as Aurelia A. Cromwell said so with a smile.

"Thanks for having me. I'm just glad to be away from that creepy guy in the mask... speaking of which, who the hell were those people? Why are they after me?"

"Hmm, where to begin? There's quite a bit to cover so do forgive me if there is something I forget to address." Aurelia rested her chin on her fist and pondered for a bit. "Ah, before I get into the identity of your attackers, I feel as though it is important to give you a brief summary of who **we** are as an organization."

"You guys?"

"Yes. Tell me boy, are you familiar with the name, Die Walkure?"

"..? Now that you mention it, I think I've heard it before..."

Shizuki had indeed heard the name before, but he had a difficult time placing his finger on it. If he had to be honest, it sounded like something he may have heard on the news before.

"If it's difficult to remember, maybe this will refresh your memory."

Aurelia mused as she turned on the small monitor that was on her desk. After pressing a few buttons, she turned the monitor towards Shizuki and Reina and the footage began to play onscreen.

Tsukamoto intently watched the footage. It was old and grainy, but there was an image of a handsome-looking man with long blonde hair and 'unearthly' blue eyes, dressed in a red military uniform of some kind.

 _"I would like to address this statement to every single human being born and raised on Earth. We call ourselves simply Die Walkure. We are a private armed organization in possession of the mobile weapon called the Grimore Frame. The main objective of Die Walkure's activities is to completely eliminate acts of conflict from this world orchestrated by the secret society known as **{Redacted}**." _

The man's voice became distorted and jumbled after saying those words. Whatever he said must have been censored at some point.

 _"We do not act for our own benefit or for personal gain. We have chosen to intervene for the greatest goal of all to free ourselves from the control of **{Redacted}**. As of this moment, I make this declaration to all humanity. Territory, religion, energy no matter what the reason or excuse, if there is an evident act of war being carried out, we will commence intervention with our force. Any country, organization or corporation that promotes war and is aligned with **{Redacted}** will also be a legitimate target for our intervention. We simply call ourselves Die Walkure. We are an armed organization that was established to eliminate all acts of orchestrated conflict from this world. I repeat..."_

Before the footage could repeat itself, Aurelia turned the monitor off and turned it back over to its original position.

"Does it seem familiar now?"

After watching that footage of what looked like a public broadcast, it finally clicked.

About several years ago, he was watching a marathon of an anime he liked at the time on television, when all of a sudden, the show was interrupted with the very footage he just watched, redactions and all. Apparently, it was broadcasted on almost every television in the world for about fifteen minutes before the broadcast was cut. For a time, many news stations around the world were talking about it nonstop, even when there were multiple wars going on around the world.

Sure enough, Certain Machines started to pop up in these said warzones, disrupting the conflicts with military force. These interventions ranged from covert sabotage of certain facilities to heavy military force with highly advanced weapons and machines, and many conflicts were ceased as a result of both sides being unable to carry on the fight.

These interventions were not limited to military intervention. Several anonymous groups claiming to be part of Die Walkure had appeared online and were spreading propaganda and conspiracy theories on the internet about nefarious entities steering the world to ruin. He also remembered how this particular case stirred up major controversy about online censorship in the west.

"Yeah, it's coming back now... I remember seeing this broadcast back in middle school. But wait a minute... what's an earth-based organization like Die Walkure doing here in Gamindustri in the first place?"

"Die Walkure has otherworldly origins, which was started by an interdimensional organization investigating collusion and interference from another otherworldly superpower, so we can hardly call ourselves truly earth based." Aurelia continued. "As for your question, the answer lies within the people who attacked you. You see boy, those men, Hound Dog, as they were, are a Black Ops task-force created by the Global Homeland Qalbalah... better known as G.H.Q."

"G.H.Q?"

Shizuki repeated the name aloud. This organization was better known than Die Walkure was. From his general knowledge, they were an extra-governmental military counter-terrorism organization tasked with maintaining the world's security. He recalled them having better weaponry and equipment than most other agencies due to the connections of multiple governments in the United Nations putting much funding towards the construction of their facilities and equipment worldwide. Tsukamoto couldn't even begin to think how much money it all costed to make everything they did possible.

And that was just the public stuff. There was probably a lot more to the organization than what the general public is allowed to know.

"But why is the world's largest peacekeeping organization after me? Usually in order for those people to come after somebody, they'd have to do something **_really_** big..."

"Well, you've done something quite big already~." mused Aurelia. "You, a mere highschool student has traveled to another world without explanation. Only Die Walkure and G.H.Q have the capability to travel to other worlds. But, in all honesty, it's because of something else entirely; the next big topic of the day."

Shizuki placed his hand on his chest. He had a feeling this conversation was going in the direction of that thing inside of his body.

Reina, who had been quiet up to this point, spoke up.

"The G.H.Q is pursuing you because of an anomaly that's currently residing inside of you. The anomaly in question is a ancient artifact called the Gem of Sephira──the source of your abnormal abilities."

"Are you serious...?" This bit of information caught Shizuki by surprise. "This gem... has been the source of my main issues all this time?"

"Yes," Reina continued. "Not much is known about it, but it is an artifact that predates even the age of the earth. According to intelligence from our parent organization, the Endymion Bureau, the Gem of Sephira had vanished over two-hundred years ago on the now desolate P-725. The Gem itself is an artifact of unknown purpose, that contains large amounts of Telesma."

"Telesma...?"

Tsukamoto tilted his head at the unfamiliar term. To be honest, his head was still trying to keep up with the rest of the information he was receiving.

"Oh dear," Aurelia Cromwell said so with slight exasperation. "Reina, you must be careful with using certain terms. He is not of us you know?"

"Of course. My bad, Shin."

Shizuki shook his head in response.

"Oh no, it's totally fine! Please, continue with the info dump."

"Alright... anyway, Telesma is an energy that dwells in places beyond our current realm, such as the Radix. Certain beings, people and artifacts wield this power in our universe, though they are rare to come across. In your case, the Gem of Sephira contains this energy but it's currently being suppressed by whatever material the Gem was made from. This may be why the energy hasn't killed you and instead, altered your body in a manner to properly manage it."

"U-Uh-huh... and just what does the G.H.Q want with something like that?"

"Tis' the most difficult question to answer I say." The Blonde commander spoke up, twirling a pen around in her fingers. "We simply do not know why G.H.Q has an interest in it. Our Intel says they have been looking for it for years, hence why started their operations in Gamindustri several years ago in order to find it. For a time, they were acting on the rough basis of finding a young man like you, and recover the Gem from their possession. Of course, they failed and their hunt for the gem ended in some unfortunate results."

Judging from her expression which became somewhat sullen, he understood what those words meant. Many people had died for this thing and he had a feeling that it wouldn't end here, given how ruthless the people who attacked him were.

 _("It just never ends, does it...?")_

It was bad enough that the powers given to him by the Gem was already causing him a number of issues before, now that uninvolved people were being killed over them, it just didn't sit well with him at all.

The image of two certain girls appeared in his mind. He had a feeling that more of those Hound dog guys were coming after them, likely to just eliminate them for being involved. He was certain that those two could handle themselves fairly well, but the situation had evolved beyond just random thugs and monsters. These were highly trained soldiers who specialized in killing. Even if Hound Dog failed, G.H.Q would just send someone else with more fire power to finish the job.

He did not want to think about the possibility of those two getting hurt, or worse.

"...Hey, is it possible to just get the damn thing out of my body, then destroy it? If it's gone, then those people have no reason to──"

"I'm afraid that isn't possible." Reina spoke, cutting Shizuki off. "Firstly, we don't know what would happen if we were to remove it. It's been fused into your body, so removing it may kill you or leave some permanent damage. Secondly, trying to destroy artifacts with Telesma is very dangerous. Doing so may at best destroy the ship, or at worse, the entire continent of Gamindustri. Uncontained telesma is very unstable to manage, so I would rather not break the container that suppresses its potency."

"Shit..."

Tsukamoto swore. It seemed as though it wasn't going to be that simple after all.

"So what happens now?"

Aurelia pondered for a bit before speaking up again.

"Well, I had considered keeping you aboard the Sagittarius for protection, but it seems as though that would cause problems for us."

"How so..?"

"Tis' the matter of those two girls you've been traveling with. If you were to disappear without explanation, they would without a doubt, try to find you."

That would be obvious, Shizuki thought. He had known them for over a week, so naturally, they would become worried and try to look for him if he just up and vanished.

"We investigated those two quite thoroughly. One of them has connections to the organization called the Guild, but both of them are pretty well acquainted with this land's ruling force, the CPUs. Having all of them involved will simply complicate the situation. If that happens, G.H.Q will take notice and may respond in the worst way imaginable..."

"The worst way imaginable?"

"In other words ── total annihilation."

Shizuki felt a chill run down his body after hearing the severe tone of Aurelia's words. If that was the case, then staying aboard the ship was indeed a bad idea. he didn't want to see Gamindustri and all is people be reduced to ash.

 _("Can they really do that though...?")_

"Shin, we have a rule in place which both Die Walkure and our parent organization must adhere to when operating on other worlds." Reina spoke up, seeing the worried expression on his face. "It's called the Prime Directive, sometimes called the Non-Interference Directive. Strictly speaking, it prevents members of our organization from giving identification of self or mission; no interference with the social development of said planet; no references to dimensional space, other worlds, or advanced civilizations. Gamindustri has yet to join the Inter-dimensional community and develop warp drive, so the rule definitely applies here."

"Yet the G.H.Q has no qualms about interference, as they have been handing off weapons and even working alongside, bad actors on this world." Aurelia picked up. "Therefore, we must keep the situation at a manageable level. To prevent those egomaniac authoritarians from causing further damage and ultimately reveal our existence to the populace."

Shizuki had gotten the gist of what the Prime Directive was. Basically, no one in gamindustri can know about what's really happening, including the knowledge of other worlds and the organizations of which were not of Gamindustri. In essence, if Compa and IF catch wind of something wrong and get the Goddesses involved, G.H.Q may mobilize to destroy them and raze all four nations to the ground. Die Walkure was essentially the one that was trying to manage the situation to prevent it from escalating to that point.

But this still left one question.

"...I think I understand now. But where does this leave me?"

"Hmn, for now, we will send you back to the surface and let you continue on as is, but, with a catch~"

As Aurelia mused, the doors to the office entrance opened and a familiar young man dressed in black clothes, whilst carrying a Japanese sword at his side entered the room, as if he were on cue.

"Kurosaki Kojiro will be sent down to act as your personal body guard. We of the Sargasso can only monitor things from above and take care of behind the scenes things, but he will stay by your side at all times to neutralize any threat to you. I trust you have no objections with this task, O' Black Swordsman~?"

The man known as Kurosaki Kojiro spoke with a degree of respect in his voice.

"Not at all, Commander. I will carry out my mission to the best of my ability, as I have always done."

"That's a good boy~!"

Aurelia exclaimed in a somewhat cheerful voice, but Kurosaki ignored it. Her eyes then became slightly sharp as they were fixed back on Shizuki.

"Now then, we've explained the prime directive to you for a reason, so naturally, you too must follow it while you're down there. First of all, you are not to reveal what you know to anyone in Gamindustri. This goes double for those girls you've been fooling around with."

"Of course, I won't let anyone know about this whole mess. But, er... out of curiosity, what happens if I tell them?"

After Tsukamoto asked that question, Aurelia's lips seemed to twist into a cheerful smile for some reason, yet there was a disturbing air about her now.

" **If you expose the existence of everything we've told you so far, those two girls will be captured, have their memories of everything that's happened in this past week, including those of you purged, and you will be confined to the Sargasso in a containment cell. We prefer to do this in a humane fashion, so please don't force our hand. Understood~?** "

"U-Understood ma'am..."

Having felt a cold chill run through his body upon hearing that threat, Tsukamoto timidly nodded.

※※※※※

A certain park had been utterly ruined in the past several minutes.

The reason for that was obvious.

A chaotic battle was currently taking place.

A spear with devastating power had collided with a pair of falchions multiple times, causing shock waves that kicked up dirt. In truth, it was the falchons that was on the defensive this time around as the deadly spear came to take the life of their wielder every second.

IF did her best to mount an adequate defense against that demonic spear, yet every time, it would invade enemy territory, breaking through each time it was thrust.

"Guh ──!"

A strained voice escaped IF's mouth. The spear was moving so fast, her emerald eyes could not properly keep up with its movements. The spear's movements were a point to start with, and now it was a dark flash of light. She could not discern the blade coming at her.

She was at a disadvantage. Even though she had seen Rosalia fight before, this was the first time IF had seen her fight on this level. Furthermore, because of the big fight she had with the Grimm that was manifested and the subsequent chase that forced her to use Level Accel on not just her own body, but her motorcycle as well, IF's stamina was lower than it would be in normal situations, hence why she was more on being on the defensive than being on the offensive.

She was doing the best she could in this situation. Because Compa was currently being restrained, she could not rely on having Heaven's Touch to hold back the dangerous effects of Level Accel, there fore, using it for prolonged periods was out of the question.

Having been pushed back from the force of the spear clashing with her blades, the wielder of the spear flourished her weapon a bit before rushing in to continue the assault.

Using her current inferiority in this situation as her own weapon to block Rosalia's vicious onslaught, IF was controlling where her attacks would reach. The girl in blue was limiting the oncoming attacks by leaving fatal openings. Of course, she will simply die if she does not evade the attacks, but if she can choose between instant death and being slowly hacked away, she would prefer an instant demise.

Fortunately, Rosalia appeared to be taking IF lightly, or rather, she was simply caught up in the excitement of the battle.

Using Level Accel in a short burst, IF bent backwards, narrowly avoiding the tip of the spear that sliced through the air, cutting at least two or three small strands of her hair in the process. Immediately after that, she jumped back at the last minute and pulled out one of her semi automatic pistols, opening fire upon her.

Of course, this did nothing to harm Rosalia as she used her spear to deflect the oncoming bullets with scary precision.

Her body cried out from the pain which had been inflicted upon her by Level Accel. The two combatants were now at least 7 meters apart, waiting for the other to make the next move.

 _("...This can't continue on like this. That previous fight took too much of my stamina away.")_

She mentally accessed the situation as she stared at Rosalia. At the rate this battle was going, she was going to be come mincemeat sooner or later. All she was doing was delaying the inevitable. Unless she could find a way to turn this situation around in her favor, it would all be over.

 _("But I can't lose here either way. Compa and Shizu's lives are depending on me regardless.")_

IF glanced over at Compa who was still being restrained by those men in black while looking on at the battle with a worried expression. If IF were to fall here, it didn't need to be said what would happen to Compa. After it was all said and done, they would just kill her too and call it a day.

And as for Tsukamoto Shizuki... she had no idea what was happening with him, though she understood that it wasn't good either way.

And so, to prevent that Bad ending from occurring, IF had to defeat Rosalia here.

"Is this really the time for you to be worrying about others~?" said Rosalia who noticed her attention was not on her. "You will never be able to defeat me if you keep focusing on other things."

She flourished her spear once more, only, she didn't charge forward this time. Instead, she struck the spear into the ground, and a change began to occur.

"Terros!"

"...!"

In that instant, numerous "spikes" began to rise up from the ground and shoot to impale IF from underneath. Thankfully, she leapt in the air and started jumping through the trees, avoiding a gruesome fate.

As she kept moving to avoid being within the range of those spikes, IF used a Flame Brand blade to burn away the spikes with a swing. Following this, she used an Ice Brand Blade and threw it at the mass of spikes that were expanding towards her, freezing them in an explosion of ice before they subsequently crumbled.

But by then, Rosalia was already on top of her.

"..!"

"Too slow, windwalker~!"

IF brought her sole remaining blade to block the tip of the spear coming to cut her, but as a result of this, IF was sent plummeting to the ground, though managing to land on her feet some how.

Rosalia came down to strike her once more, but IF jumped back 8 or so meters.

"Tch... you're not half bad for a hag."

"Hag? It seems I really need to teach you some proper manners, girl. After all, I will be the one to rule over the four nations once I've finished bringing them to its knees."

"You sound like a typical Saturday morning cartoon villain. Can't you do better than that for motivation?"

"Humph, mock me all you want, girl, in the end it changes nothing. You will die here, your friend will die, and that boy will meet his fate as well~! The wheels of everlasting fate of turned and cannot be stopped at this juncture!"

With that declaration, power started to gather around Rosalia's spear as though responding to her will.

And a dark light exploded out.

"Fiammos!"

With single sweep of her spear, a wave of black flames shot out and incinerated everything in its path; trees, grass, and stones were not spared as the flames mercilessly consumed them.

Fortunately, IF survived by using Level Accel in another short burst and jumped several meters into the air to avoid those deadly flames. While she was in the air, she launched her blades toward Rosalia and kept pulling out more before launching them; it was very similar to what she did back in the cave with the Gleam Eyes.

Rosalia grinned ferociously as she took the flaming spear and used it to parry all of the incoming projectiles. Each blade was much less deflected and was more or less incinerated upon contact with her spear.

"Tch..!"

IF landed back on the ground and equipped two long Ice Brand Blades, before rushing forward.

In another series of clashes, ice and flame blades collided, clashed and exploded out. Even though their weapons were enhanced by the elements, it didn't really change much regarding the battle. IF could not close in and Rosalia's spear continued to move at speeds her eyes could barely keep up with.

The ice blades shattered and IF widened the distance between them to avoid a fatal blow. Following this, the flames around the spear vanished and Rosalia swung it once again and this time, another phenomena took place.

"Ventos!"

Two blades made of wind materialized and shot themselves forward at IF. Not wasting any time, the girl in blue jumped out of the path of those blades as they closed in on her, striking the ground where she once stood before falling apart.

 _("...Looks like her spear's got elemental properties. What a damn pain in the neck... it looks like I might have to use **that** after all.")_

IF pondered a bit as she stared at Rosalia for a bit.

 _("This weapon's experimental, so I'm not sure if this will even work... but I can't keep this fight up much longer.")_

Unbeknownst to Rosalia, IF had a recently made weapon on her person, specifically designed to combat against supernatural forces. But IF was hesitant because she wasn't sure if it would carry out its intended function, not to mention she could currently use it only once, but regardless, if it had the capability to change the tide of the fight, then she had no choice but to bet on it.

However...

"Ventos!"

Rosalia swung her spear left as IF pondered her next move, and the result was the girl being struck at her right side by a blunt force object.

"Guaah..!"

A powerful force of wind had apparently hit her so hard, she fell to the ground. The spear was swung to the right and IF was struck again from the left. Left hit right, right hit left, and the cycle continued for a few seconds. Powerful forces of wind kept hitting her as if somebody was punching her repeatedly, so much so, that blood was leaking through her teeth.

Rosalia laughed as she watched IF struggle to get up. It was clear who was dominating this battle. Any moment now and the victor would be decided.

"Oh my, what a pitiful sight this is. You prided yourself on being a gust of wind, and yet were beaten by the wind."

Rosalia sneered as she looked down on IF from a distance.

"You merely adopted the Wind. I on the other hand dominated it, molded it into a weapon to use along with the other elements. As long as I can control the four great elements, you stand little chance of stopping me."

"..."

"But it is quite a shame. I would've enjoyed to toy with you some more, but as per my contract, I'll have to end this. As for your friend, I think I may let the Hound Dogs have their way with her and they can decide to keep her as a pet or to dispose of her."

The woman's lips twisted into a grin.

"And after I'm finished here, provided they haven't killed him yet, I may visit that boy test the limits of his regenerative abilities! He was the one who foiled my original plan to kill you the first time, so it's only natural for me to vent my frustration for that mishap!"

Without warning, a bullet flew past her head. reacting immediately, Rosalia raised her spear and formed a wind barrier to block the next volley of bullets that came from IF's semi automatic.

"Level Accel... Times Two!"

Time dilated. IF threw everything to the wind, to maximise the tiny gap she had managed to steal from this powerful enemy.

She drove her accelerated limbs and leapt up from the ground, jumping backwards to further the distance. The semi automatic ran out of bullets and Rosalia turned to face her. IF dropped the gun and drew a glowing bullet of some kind with her now empty left hand.

Rosalia loomed near. With a near-flight speed, IF slid the bullet into the chamber of a new streamlined Silver Gun that was now in her other hand. She closed the barrel half-way, took aim ──

A space of three steps separated her from Rosalia's Spear.

"Pierce through... Illusion Killer!"

The Silver Gun which had been given the name, Illusion Killer let out a furious roar. In response, Rosalia brought her spear up to block the glowing bullet with considerable speed, and made contact with the bullet.

However, instead of the bullet being blocked, the spear was shattered and the bullet continued forward. Eventually, it struck Rosalia's right shoulder and came out through her.

"Hu...gaaaaahhhhh!"

Rosalia's form hand started to distort, as though she were a holographic image receiving interference. It was only natural for this to happen, after all, her spear was negated by that bullet, and the personalized field she used to change her appearance was also broken through. Her true form was starting to leak out, but the image was still to distorted to see any noticeable features, and Rosalia was somehow managing to maintain her current appearance, even though her facade will eventually crumble.

She lost her primary weapon and she was wounded. Rosalia was in a precarious situation.

But IF wasn't unscathed either. Using Level Accel Times Two caused her tremendous pain and strain on her body. A considerable amount of blood was hacked up from her mouth and her nerves felt as though they were on fire.

("That was risky... but it worked well enough. Now that she's weakened, I have a better chance at putting her down for good.")

Illusion Killer.

It was a newly developed gun with special bullets that negated supernatural phenomenon. Against ordinary foes, the bullet would be nothing more than just that, a bullet, but when faced with things like Magic, the bullet destroys the phenomena on contact. It was IF's trump card in the event that she found herself in a battle like this. So far, it lived up to her expectations.

"D..Damn you! To think I'm being bested by some mere human brat!"

For the first time, Rosalia displayed true anger at having been weakened to this extent. With the wave of her hand, a smaller sword was equipped and her eyes contained enormous killing intent.

But before Rosalia could make the first move, IF started her attack. She activated Level Accel and kicked off the ground, now armed with a blade which made contact with Rosalia's.

Because they were both in weakened states, their blades lacked the intensity they had before, but both of those blades were intent on killing the other's owner. IF's sword attacked continuously, flickering through the air with a chilling light. Looking on, one would barely see IF's movements; only the lighting-like residual images the blade left in its wake.

IF's arms, legs, and heart let out sad screams of pain with every swing of the blade and the adverse effect of Level Accel mercilessly tore apart IF's flesh. Even so, she did not hesitate. There was no need to hesitate. As long as her body could still move, she didn't need to pay any attention to what she was feeling. After all, she still had to prevent this from becoming a Bad End.

After their bout of clashes, Rosalia delivered a swift kick to IF's gut, causing her to stumble backward.

("Oh shit... not good!")

The moment she finally managed to balance herself, she realized that a deadly strike from Rosalia was fast approaching. She was still recovering her balance, however, so she could not move.

If so ── IF grated out a spell, from a throat that was frothing with blood.

"Level Accel... Times Three!"

The explosive pain boiled into every part of her senses. IF leapt up and backwards, turning in mid-air to escape from Rosalia's range, simultaneously hurling the blade in her left hand, with all the strength in her body. Faced with yet another repeated acceleration, Rosalia couldn't dodge. The blade ripped through the air and struck into Rosalia's hip, effortlessly slicing through the black armor.

"Guaaaaahh!"

Landing back on the ground, IF took out a regular bullet and loaded it into the Silver Gun. Rosalia took this moment to swing her sword and conjured four wind blades and hurdled them towards the girl in blue.

Rosalia charged forward. In her anger, she paid no attention to the blade still sticking out of her left hip. Even the fact that the sharp blade was tearing the wound open wider as she ran did not cause her to hesitate.

Wind blades fell from above. IF finally realised Rosalia's strategy when the four sharp blades surrounded her in all directions like a bird cage.

Her movements were sealed. If IF wanted to dodge Rosalia's next attack, the sharp blades of wind would be waiting for her no matter where she moved. Rosalia's intention had been to seal IF's movements from the start, when she threw the Blades of Wind.

The only way to stay alive was to fire before she was struck.

IF aimed the Illusion Killer. She could hear Compa call out her name, but she paid it no heed. There was no need to be anxious; no need to fear. All she needed to do was focus on her target.

 ** _I will win._**

They both believed.

 ** _I will die._**

They both understood.

The sword and the gun; both weapons aiming for the kill exchanged their last strike.

And yet, while the two warrior females were so engrossed with their battle, they did not take the time to pay attention to the phenomena that was headed their way.

A bright bolt of light had shot in at high speed and landed between the two combatants. After that, the land was filled with a bright light, and a massive shock wave blew the combatants away from each other. In fact, the shock wave was so powerful, that Compa and the two guys who were restraining her were knocked back, despite being some ways away from where the fight had been taking place.

※

The Pinkette had been watching the battle without being able to help. Because she was being restrained by those two men, she had been unable to use Heaven's Touch to repair the damage done by IF's Level Accel.

And she had used it multiple times. Surely, her body had to be in terrible shape by now. Compa felt useless for not being able to do anything to assist in the fight, and as a result, IF had tore up her body many times in order to ensure their safety. For a time, she truly thought it was all going to be over.

But as if an unheard prayer was answered, that bright light had came and disrupted the fight before it reached a proper conclusion. Everything after that became white.

She could no longer see or feel the two people that were holding her earlier and she did not see Rosalia anymore. Either she escaped, or had been finished off. Either way, that didn't really matter anymore.

"...?"

Through the kicked up dust and faint golden light, she saw IF laying their on the ground, bleeding out from her injuries both from the fight and from the explosion. When she saw that, she nearly despaired, thinking that her long time friend whom she practically grew up with had met an untimely demise, but something else had caught her attention.

"..."

Currently, there was a new figure standing over IF's collapsed form. Due to the smoke, there was only so much she could actually see of the person, but they looked to be female, but more than that, something was off about them.

For starters, the woman had no discernible features due to a weird Mosaic-like light surrounding her body. She wore long robes, but she could not see what color they were. She had long hair, but was also devoid of color due to the light around her. Compa remembered Shizuki telling her about his encounter with a similar looking entity before he was appeared in Gamindustri and wondered if the being before them and the being he saw back then were indeed the same creature.

But then the being spoke in a strange voice that could best be described as, "censored."

"...I was going to just observe this turn of events out of curiosity, but after seeing how it was going to end, I just could not let things be."

The being raised its hand over IF's body and an aura of white light manifested around her. As Compa looked closely, she could see that her wounds were vanishing at an almost instantaneous rate, much faster than she could ever manage.

"Yes, this will do. I do hope you will forgive me for this minor interference. After all, I would rather not have my _quodmsinem_ SON _poeinowji'_ s happiness be destroyed so easily."

Her words sounded strange. When the being's voice blurred like that, the source of the sound seemed to shift. That made it sound very odd. It was a bit like wearing stereo headphones with the right and left switched.

"I will be off then. If you can, please watch over that person. I feel there will be some very trying times ahead of him and all involved."

The being moved away from IF for a bit who had just started coughing after speaking those words, and had begun to hover up into the air.

"E-Excuse me, miss Angel!"

"Hoh...?"

The being paused for a moment and tilted its head in Compa's general direction as it hovered there.

"Um...who are you?"

"My identity does not matter right now... though, if one had to give me a name, I would prefer to be called, **_Yahweh._** "

And with those parting words, the entity ascended into the heavens and vanished. As Compa watched the being make its exit, she thought a smile had formed on its face at some point.

※※※※※

"Not my day..."

Tsukamoto Shizuki let out a sigh as he walked in the dark streets of Leanbox.

"This is definitely not my goddamn day! Why'd this have to become so complicated..."

It had been nearly five minutes since the Sargasso returned him to the surface. It seemed as though they had a similar transportation device, similar to the one he used to go to Lowee just to days ago. No matter what, he could never quite get used to the feeling of being instantaneously shifted from one place to another.

But that wasn't what he was complaining about.

Over the course of several minutes, he was given a truck load of information regarding various subjects and events relating to his current situation.

Die Walkure.

G.H.Q.

The Gem of Sephira.

He had some of his questions answered, but was just left with new ones in his place. Why as the Gem fused into his body? How long had it been there? Why was the G.H.Q trying to get it in the first place? Among these, there were also questions he had regarding Die Walkure's conflict with G.H.Q and their ability to travel to distant worlds, but he was almost positive that Aurelia woman would have evaded those particular questions.

"I thought my life couldn't get any crazier after standing in the same room with the Gleam Eyes and Linda's suit, but man I was wrong..."

He remembered Aurelia's words clearly: _**"── If you expose the existence of everything we've told you so far, those two girls will be forcefully captured, have their memories of everything that's happened in this past week, including those of you purged, and you will be confined to the Sargasso in a containment cell. We prefer to do this in a humane fashion, so please don't force our hand. Understood~?** "_

He obviously didn't want that to happen. Nothing would hurt him more than to be forcefully separated from those two and watch as they were forced to no longer remember he was ever in their lives, but at the same time, he could understand the need for such measures. Die Walkure was only trying to stop their war from affecting the four nations in the worst possible way, which could very well result in their deaths.

"And that's not the worst part... now I'll have to lie to their faces about this whole mess."

He hated lying to people he trusted about important things like this. If it didn't hold the fate of the world he was slowly getting accustomed to in the balance, he would have indeed told them about what he knew and relied on them.

But he couldn't do that. even if he could get them to not tell anyone else, he didn't think the people at Die Walkure would be quite understanding. Either way, he would lose his precious connections if he so much as uttered one word relating to this secret war.

Also...

"Hey, Kojiro-san... how am I going to explain all of this to the others when we find them?"

The young man who seemed to be about a year or so older than Shizuki walked beside him, not having spoken a single word until he was directly addressed.

"If you are worried about them uncovering the truth, just feign ignorance of the attackers' identity. It shouldn't be that difficult."

"Well yeah, that's a given, but that really wasn't what I was talking about..."

Kurosaki Kojiro was a Die Walkure member who was sent with him to act as a bodyguard for Shizuki, in the event that he was attacked. This would mean that he would travel wherever he traveled, and would stay close to him when they were out and about, but this arrangement posed a problem.

"Ah, you are worried how you are going to explain my accompanying you to them, are you?"

Tsukamoto nodded.

"This is easy for me to handle. Coming up with cover stories and excuses is something I've become fairly accustomed to over the years."

"That so... So, what exactly do you do in Die Walkure? Are you some kind of Japanese 007?"

"Not exactly," Kurosaki shook his head. "I'm an assassin of sorts. Though I have done infiltration missions before, I primarily specialize in assassination and front line combat. As a result, I've had my fair share of unique experiences."

"Is that right..."

Tsukamoto saw what kind skill and strength Kurosaki had when he fought the Jaeger in the streets. Though he didn't exactly come off as a hardened veteran, it was safe to say that he was experienced enough to face off against an enemy like that.

"So... you're an Esper right? I mean, I don't know what the deal is with that other guy, but you used some kind of power when you fought against him, didn't you?"

"As a matter of fact, I did use a certain power, but I'm not an Esper. I'm actually something called a Magus."

"A Magus?" Tsukamoto tilted his head at the unfamiliar term. "What's that?"

"A Magus is an individual who has been trained in using Magecraft, the magical science. Unlike espers who only have one specific power decided at birth, we Magi can create many supernatural phenomena without restriction, but time and effort is required in order for the craft to be truly refined, even if it takes generations to do so."

"Wow," Shizuki whistled. "And I thought Gamindustri was a weird place... I don't suppose there's schools like in those movies that teach this stuff?"

"As a matter of fact, there are many institutions through out the world that teaches Magecraft, the most popular one being the Clock Tower in London. The study of magecraft also has its own term, Thaumaturgy. This is the general term used to reference the several modern schools of Magecraft such as Astrology, Kabbalah, Alchemy, and Shinsendou. You can find divergences within different schools, but the fundamental basis of it all, is to convert Magical Energy inside one's body to transform the external world."

"I... I think I'm gonna need to write this all down in a notebook or something. Seriously, my head can't keep up with all these curve balls, and complicated info dumps..."

It was bad enough that he was getting a headache from what was revealed to him earlier, but hearing this detailed information about Magecraft was starting to make him dizzy. If circumstances would allow it, he would like nothing more than to collapse into a warm bed and sleep for a while.

"My apologies, Shizuki." Kurosaki bowed his head slightly. "After what you've gone through tonight, I can hardly blame you for feeling this way. We are almost at your place, so if you like, maybe you should rest."

"Technically, it's not my place, it's Compa-san's... and it's fine, though I can't really rest at the moment. We need to find the others and make sure they're okay."

Currently, finding Compa and IF took precedence over resting. He had no idea if they were fine or not, since he had a feeling G.H.Q sent Hound Dogs or someone else to take them out, but not knowing their current status was driving him crazy.

At the end of the day, he wanted to hear a certain person's voice and make sure they were fine.

The two males came up on the block where the multi-tenant apartment building stood, and though some lights in some of the buildings had come back on, the street was fairly dark still. Tsukamoto pulled out his cellphone and started to call one of the girls, but he stopped in his tracks before he could do just that.

"...!"

The sensation he always felt in his skull whenever he was in danger came in full force, causing him slight pain.

Noticing his strange reaction, Kojiro spoke up.

"Something wrong?"

"Yeah, there's something that's ── "

But Shizuki was interrupted. A very small explosion had occured somewhere, to the point where the sound of the explosion cannot even be heard outside the the apartment building. But what resounded in the night was the horrifying sound of reinforced concrete splintering and collapsing.

"...?!"

Kojiro noticed something was wrong when he saw the sudden change in the towering building and began to hear shouts of panic from within.

The multi-tenant apartment building, towering at a hundred and fifty some meters in height, kept its upright posture but collapsed as if being sucked into the ground. Because all the outside walls collapsed inward, not a shard of debris flew outward and only the dust created by the collapse spread towards the surrounding streets. Precision blasting── a highly advanced blasting technique used primarily to demolish tall buildings. Due to the destruction of load bearing walls and key support structures, the building collapsed downward and inward on its own weight, using the least amount of explosives to obtain the result of total destruction.

"Cough, cough... they blew up the building?!"

Smoke filled the air and got into Shizuki's lungs. While the building was collapsing, he had heard people screaming in panic and fear. The place that Shizuki first woke up in when he was introduced to this new world, the very few, but precious memories he had while staying there, and all the people who lived in it, was all gone. He didn't know how many people lived inside it, but hundreds had to have been buried alive by now.

"You've got to be joking..."

Surprisingly, that voice did not come from Tsukamoto or Kurosaki.

It came from a tattered, but seemingly alright IF along with Compa who were standing a few meters away from the two males, looking at the scene in disbelief.

"O-Our home... and all the people..."

Compa had an expression that looked as though she was about to cry. This was natural however, since she did live there and had many things in her possession that was still inside. Not to mention she was pretty well acquainted with some of the people who lived there as her fellow tenants.

"So they destroyed the place in order keep us out in the open... clever."

Kojiro made that assessment. Though it was rather extreme to blow up an entire building just for the sake of targeting a single individual, it was simply how the G.H.Q Operated sometimes. As someone who dealt with their operatives on several occasions, he was at least familiar with how they did things.

It didn't seem as though the person who detonated the explosives was near by, which meant that they were planted beforehand and left on a timer, or was simply detonated by somewhere afar. Either way, they were out in the streets now, which was not a favorable situation to be in right now.

※

In any event, the two parties had been united following the loss of their home. When Compa saw Shizuki, she immediately embraced him, followed by lightly sobbing into his chest, likely a mixture between feeling relieved that he was alive and well and saddened at the loss of her home and the people who were in it. After that was out of their system, the girls' side began to explain what happened with them.

The chase, the fight with Rosalia, and the strange being Compa saw and briefly spoke to that restored IF to full health after she was basically dying from over use of her ability. Upon the mention of the entity, Shizuki's attention was grabbed, though it only added to his list of ever-growing pains in the arse.

Once the girls finished explaining their side, it was time for the boys to explain too.

And the first question was...

"...So, who's this guy, Shizu?"

"Oh, uh... he's..."

Shizuki started to fumble over his words. With all that his mind had to keep track of, he totally forgot he had to explain Kojiro.

Fortunately, the person in question stood in and spoke.

"Kurosaki Kojiro. I'm a traveler who came from a distant country in the east. While I was passing by, I saw that your friend was being pursued by armed men, so I intervened. It's quite a pleasure to meet you."

The young man in black bowed his head, which caused the two girls to be slightly taken aback by his politeness, but they eventually responded.

"Nice to meet you! I'm Compa, and this is Iffy. Thanks for looking after Shizu-kun, mister Culo sacky!"

"Pfft.."

Hearing Compa completely butcher Kojiro's surname, Shizuki snickered a bit. Not paying it any heed, Kojiro continued.

"Tsukamoto Shizuki made a request that I join your party, as he feels concerned about the nature of our enemies. Of course, if you would permit me to do so, I would be glad to join swords with you."

IF simply stared at Kojiro and crossed her arms for a bit.

"Hmm... how well can you fight?"

"Oh, he can fight really well!" exclaimed Shizuki. "He single handedly took down five of those guys, and went toe to toe with their leader. He's really good, trust me."

"Really? Well, if you can do all of that, and you do seem like we can trust you... what the heck, welcome aboard, Kojiro."

"Thank you for having me, miss IF."

In response to IF's relaxed smile, Kojiro bowed his head in thanks. The party of three had now become a party of four, and the black swordsman, was welcomed. Shizuki was glad that the two girls was onboard with him joining them, though Shizuki didn't really feel comfortable with deceiving them like this. Granted, he was lying to prevent catastrophe and loosing his connection with them, but at the end of the day, it felt wrong lying to them.

But he would cross that bridge when he got there. As of now, something more pressing needed to be addressed.

"Now that we settled that, where the heck are we going to sleep?"

Kojiro seemed to ponder for a bit before responding to Tsukamoto's question.

"I happen to know a place that would work as a temporary base of operations."

※※※※※

Sitting in a clearing of an unknown location was a large plane known as the CXD 23215 Airborne Mobile Command Station.

It was a specialized Boeing C-17 Globemaster III modified to serve as an 'Airborne Mobile Command Station' for the Jaeger and his team by the G.H.Q. For a time, planes like this were in heavy rotation from the mid 2000s to the late 2010s until G.H.Q built the highly advanced airships and dimensional craft like the main Mobile base, the U.S.S Providence. During its time in service, it had undergone many changes and enhancements, to better its performance as an aircraft and as a command center.

Like a lot of G.H.Q's other craft, it had a stealth realizer which allowed it to become completely cloaked from both radar and the naked eye. It would be right on top of you and you wouldn't even notice.

The interior had been modified for the Jaeger and his team's needs, including three passenger decks replacing the forward cargo space. The passenger space includes living quarters a commons area with a mini-bar, a briefing room, a number of various storage rooms, and an interrogation room/holding cell known as 'the Box', whose walls are built with silicon-carbide Valonium alloy.

And on the highest deck of the 'Zeypher Wing' as it came to be called, near the front of the plane, was the Jaeger's office. Inside, the Jaeger was currently speaking to his direct superior, the Operation Director, debriefing them on the events of the night.

"...Hound Dog had been eliminated in the field, and I've yet to hear back from our associate. I request more D-Class personnel to be sent in."

"That's rather disappointing to hear."

The Operation Director's voice was currently being censored by the communication device their voice was speaking through. Because of this, it was impossible to tell the exact gender or age of the person that was speaking.

"Very well. More D-Class will be sent, along with the 'extras' they will be using for my suggestion."

"...That substance is dangerous and unpredictable when injected. How do I know they won't be a risk to my base and equipment?"

"If you did your research, you should know that it's only dangerous when its injected inside their bodies. The D-Class that's being sent to you won't have it in their system from the start."

"I see." muttered the Jaeger in a low voice. "Then I will take your word for it, for now. As much as I am apprehensive about your suggestion for personal reasons, I'll carry it out, anyway. After all, I just demolished an apartment building full of innocent people, so the line's already been crossed."

"Hnn, I will let you know when the D-Class will be arriving. Until then, try to rest up. With the enemy now making their move against us, it would do you well to be at your best."

"Yes. I will be doing just that for the night."

Having said what already needed to be said, the Jaeger turned off the communication device. As he leaned back into his chair, a figure entered the room, though he didn't seem to be concerned or surprised at all.

"You look like hell, Rosalia. No... seeing as you look like that now, I guess it's Arfoire, isn't it?"

Standing in the doorway was the woman who was indeed, Rosalia, but she was wounded from her earlier fight, and she had a totally different appearance. replacing her black armor, was an outfit that made her look more like a witch than anything else. Her beautiful skin had turned into a ghostly pale color, almost appearing to be a pale light purple. Her glossy, flame-red hair that was kept in wild curls was now a light shade of purple, being styled in a short haircut with one long bang to the side. All in all, it was a very sharp contrast to her former appearance.

"Shut it," The woman now called Arfoire scowled as she held onto her side which was impaled. "That damn brat got the better of me some how. have I, the Deity of Sin fallen so low? If I had my original power back, I could have easily destroyed her!"

"And yet you don't." retorted the Jaeger. "The reason you are working with us is because you need our help in building a certain weapon, so you can make up for the strength you lost ages ago."

"Tch, there's no need to remind me of our positions. Well, if any good came out of this mess, at least I won't have to keep up that annoying facade any longer than necessary."

Arfoire was a long time enemy of the Goddesses and was known for being a master of disguise. After the failure of another plot to destroy Gamindustri, her powers were completely drained to the point where she would currently stand little to no chance against all of the CPUs. For some time, she had been imprisoned for her past actions, but as of recently, the G.H.Q had freed her from her prison and provided her with a solution that would allow her to get back at the Goddesses and make her comeback.

But, she had to go into hiding, and touch up on her abilities while starting her campaign against the Goddesses, so she took on the Rosalia persona and has working with G.H.Q since.

But if she had to be honest, she was starting to hate that persona she created. Now that the mask was broken, she felt somehow liberated, but was still furious at how she was beaten.

"You clearly underestimated the enemy. That is what always screws you over in battle."

"I almost had her. The brat was on the verge of dying after using her ability too much. I had her cornered, but someone interfered at the last minute!"

"There's no need to mope over the past," The Jaeger stated bluntly. "Easy captures and kills are no fun. With the way things have progressed, the hunt has become more interesting, especially now that the new shipment of D-Class will be arriving."

"More of those useless fools? How is getting more of them going to make this better?"

"These D-Class are nothing special. They are the same filth picked from federal prisons and G.H.Q detention camps as the others before. But unlike the previous unit, most of these are untrained, disposable tools. **The difference is what they will be bringing with them.** "

"Oh?" The deity of sin furrowed her brow. "And just what will they be bringing that's so ground breaking?"

The Jaeger's lips twisted into a smile underneath the skull mask he wore over his face as he uttered the next word.

" **Extremis**."

 ** _Episode 7_**

 ** _Soldiers of the Secret War_**

* * *

Afterword

Greetings! To those of you who were following the story since its inception, welcome back, and to those of you who just found it, welcome. We've made it to the seventh entry of the story, and this is where things gets interesting. A lot was covered in this episode, and I feel as though it is the most important one currently made, since it delves gives some info and insight on this universe I'm building. The previous 6 episodes were more or less a prelude of sorts. I didn't want to introduce some of the primary elements of this universe from the very start, since I felt that I would be beating you over the head by doing so. I kind of wanted to establish some of the main characters and give a sense of familiarity, before delving into unknown territory. Hopefully my set up was adequate enough and you, the reader, enjoyed it.

There's a lot to cover here, so let's jump into it.

On the bit with magecraft near the end, yes, there are several elements borrowed from the Nasuverse, and this is for for a reason. At some point in the future, there will be a Fate story which takes place 15 or 16 years before this story, and certain characters that will appear later on down the road in Sephira will be tied to that story in one way or another. These characters have not appeared yet, but trust me, the connection will be revealed when we get to it.

I also took the liberty of adding in some elements from Raildex in regards to Telesma. Now, in Raildex, from what I understand, Telesma is basically Angel mana and is found in abundance in Heaven. For the Sephiraverse, the premise is similar in the fact that it is a higher form of mana that's found in other realms, though like Reina said, there are artifacts and people who wield Telesma, and they can do some pretty incredible things. Like in Raildex, it is very dangerous and can pretty much destroy the world in the wrong scenario, and the same goes for people too, though the rare cases of humans wielding it are only able to do so through special circumstances, (Like Shizuki)

As for the Gem of Sephira, its core is basically a mass of Telesma, but the shell built around it was designed to surpress large amounts of it so its power could safely be wielded, hence why Shizuki has his powers and stuff.

Speaking of which, the Mystic Eyes of Soul Conception is **NOT** the same is Mystic Eyes of Death Perception. They may seem similar in name and at first glance, but they work differently. Shizuki's eyes can visualize souls and can interact with them in some ways other than just destroying them. I wont reveal it here, but he can do more than simply destroy them. MEODP can see a person's Death from what I can understand, which means Shiki can kill anything that has those lines, including inanimate objects. Shizuki's eyes only work on biological creatures and is useless against machines.

MEOSC can see a person's Core/Origin, or what have you, while MEODP can see someone's end. That's how I interpret that at least, so hopefully I cleared up the misunderstanding since someone complained saying the two eyes were the same.

As for G.H.Q and Die Walkure ── These two organizations, especially Die Walkure, will become a major presence throughout the series. I wanted there to be a buildup for their reveal and introduction for the first few episodes whereas opposed to the prototype version of the story, where they were revealed right off the bat. Die Walkure is loosely based off Celestial Being from Gundam 00 in regards to their primary mission. Here, they know things ordinary people do not, and things that governments will not reveal. They are under the belief that every conflict in the world is being orchestrated by a shadowy society, so they are conducting interventions on various fronts to throw a wrench in the society's endgame. What is that? We'll see.

G.H.Q is pretty much an authoritarian version of S.H.I.E.L.D that's known for being pretty heavy-handed when it comes to 'enforcing' peace and security against what they believe to be hostile actors, and The Jaeger is one of the many examples of this, though I think in his case, his motivation is more personal, but he's not a mindless soldier for the G.H.Q. Even he questions the organization sometimes.

Rosalia being Arfoire ── I left a few hints that suggested this was the case, but if you were surprised by the reveal, then I hope you enjoyed it.

And the Illusion Killer ── This is pretty much Imagine Breaker but as a Gun. I thought I should give Iffy a weapon that stands out from her other arsenal.

And I believe that's it. I understand this was expositiony, but hopefully the fights and curevballs made up for it. Stay tuned for the next entry. I don't know what to call the next one, but you'll see it when it comes out. Still no luck on fan art or illustrations for the Wattpadd version of the story unfortunately.

Like, follow, review, leave **actual criticism** and not baseless complaints .

This is Kino, and I lay my pen down for tonight.

face claims

Kojiro Kurosaki - Kuroh Yatogami

Reina Rosenthal - Reine Murasame

Aurelia A. Cromwell - Chiaki (Fairy Fencer F)


	8. Episode 8: Domain of the Enhanced Ones

**_Episode 8_**

 ** _The Domain of the Enhanced Ones_**

* * *

The _U.S.S Sargasso_.

It was an aircraft that had gone beyond what any conventional aircraft had achieved during its service.

Rather than merely being a aircraft that merely flew across great distances across the planet, being capable of traveling from the United States to Hong Kong in less than two hours, it was given the capability of Dimensional warp Travel.

The Vessel was massive so to speak, being just over 288.4 meters in length and 72.2 meters in height. It had a crew complement of just over 300, and it currently resided just about 50,000 feet above Leanbox. Normally, a vessel like this would be easily seen in the sky on a nice day, due to its size, but this wasn't really the case. In actuality, the vessel was hidden by a cloaking device and left the populace below none the wiser to its presence.

As mentioned before, the ship was capable of Dimensional Warp Travel which went above and beyond conventional space travel in several ways.

In this universe, there exists two layers of the current realm. There is the Inner Universe which consists of planets, stars, and galaxies──what exists within the observable universe. And then, there is the space beyond that.

What lies beyond the observable universe is a space that is populated by trillions of Dimensions as they have been called, containing their own version of an observable universe, commonly referred to as the 'Outer' or 'Expanded Universe. It should be noted that it is impossible for one to travel to these other dimensions by conventional means, as the scale is immensely large and a temporal displacement effect would take place if successfully attempted, sending one back in time to the birth of that dimension.

The only way to travel between these dimensions is through entering a certain space connecting them all called Warpspace. To reach warpspace, one must do so through molecular displacement, which was achieved by breaking the speed of light by a certain point. It is coterminous with realspace, meaning that each point in realspace was associated with a unique point in warpspace, and all adjacent points in realspace were adjacent in warpspace as well.

Additionally, every object in realspace, such as stars, planets, and asteroids has a "shadow" counterpart in warpspace. Aside from those well-established facts acknowledged by all competent astrophysicists and astrogation experts, other aspects of warpspace admittedly remains a mystery.

The Endymion Bureau were well known for their ships being able to travel through Warpspace, as their entire organization depended on it.

Die Walkure, with their help, has achieved this in the following decades after they were founded.

And the G.H.Q has recently achieved this capability as well.

The _Sargasso_ 's mission was to monitor the G.H.Q's activities and prevent them from exposing the secret war between them to the population of Gamindustri, as well as to prevent them from obtaining a certain artifact which would prove to be disastrous in the wrong hands.

As such, the Commander of the Vessel, Aurelia A. Cromwell sent one of their operatives to act as a bodyguard for the person in possession of this dangerous artifact.

But sending one person to protect them did not mean they could relax. If anything, they had to be more vigilant now that they had stepped in and fought off the enemy. Sooner or later, they will be back to carry out their objective. The question now became how they would approach their next attempt.

That was what Aurelia was currently trying to figure out.

whilst she was lost in her thoughts thinking about the current state of affairs, a woman entered her office.

She was Reina Rosenthal, the Analytics Officer of the _U.S.S Sargasso_. She was also a medical officer when not performing her main duties, which could explain her tired expression.

"Excuse me. I've completed the investigation you wanted into the man who led the attack on Tsukamoto Shizuki."

"Oh?" Aurelia mused, having been pulled out of her thoughts. "What do you have for me?"

Reina took out a small device and placed it on Aurelia's desk. Shortly after pressing a button, holographic images of the person's profile and general information regarding them and their exploits popped up from the device.

"He is a G.H.Q operative called The Jaeger. Everything before his initial appearance nine years ago is virtually unknown about him." explained Reina. "His birth name, nationality and birthplace are a mystery, but after taking on the Jaeger identity, he first appeared in Syria where he allegedly took out a base of terrorists by himself. After that, he began similar crusades in other areas in the middle east, eliminating radical terrorist groups, leaving a bloody scene in his wake."

"Hm, so they brought in a professional terrorist hunter to find our unlucky visitor? Interesting..."

"After five years of doing this, G.H.Q had finally found him and taken him in. But they didn't arrest him. Instead, they wanted to use him as a weapon, so they augmented his body with a number of special treatments, turning him into a super soldier. After he was changed, he became a nearly unstoppable force when it came to eliminating terrorists."

Reina sat a piece of paper on Aurelia's desk which contained a list of the Jaeger's notable achievements.

"...Mutilation, torture, decapitation, activating bombs in public places, getting into a shootout with 42 men and coming out unscathed with all of them dead, and the removal of certain organs. My, our enemy seems like a colorful individual."

"And this was before he was recruited by the G.H.Q." Reina continued, her eyes slightly narrowed as her calm voice seethed with anger. "There's even reports where he held an entire family hostage to draw out his target, striking down an airplane with many passengers on board, and mercilessly killed a child Esper whose powers were going out of control and effecting the environment."

"Hm, they certainly aren't fooling around when it comes to picking out their pawns. I'm fairly certain not even their famous Adeptuses 1, and 5 are that merciless."

"Commander, this man has no boundaries when it comes to his actions. Such a person is very dangerous and should not be taken lightly. While I have confidence in Kurosaki's abilities, even he isn't safe if the enemy plays his cards right."

Anyone who heard the stories of the masked international vigilante known as The Jaeger had every reason to be worried about his involvement. He was not simply a brute who smashed his way in through every situation, he was methodical, and calculating, planning out his next move carefully. And each time, the final result was horrifying to look at in reality. He was truly a monster that had no bounds when it came to hunting down and eliminating his targets.

This was the reason why he was called the Harbinger of Death or the Grimm Reaper. Everywhere he went, death followed, and even in this situation, the body count was already high, with the implosion of that apartment complex the previous night being a recent addition to the number of corpses left behind by him.

"Why are you so worried, Reina? When I sent Kurosaki Kojiro down there, I never had any intention of him fighting off an entire army if it came down to it. He is merely insurance, insurance to keep the Gem safe and to make sure the owner does not stray too loose."

"...I see." Reina understood what she meant by that. "But what exactly do you have in mind?"

"Simple, we simply work behind the scenes to eliminate the hostile elements that comes gunning for them." Aurelia smiled a bit as she explained further. "As you may already be aware, the _Sargasso_ is not the only Die Walkurian ship hovering above this world. In fact, there's one in particular I had in mind for taking care of this, since there are two individuals who are good at making an interesting impression on the enemy."

"The Blonde Devil and The War Knight..."

Those two names held significant meaning among the members of Die Walkure. Like Kurosaki Kojiro, who was known as the Black Swordsman, they were among some of the strongest operatives in the organization, and these two were not Magi or Espers, but two 'humans' who had undergone certain circumstances to get where they currently were.

"If you would, could you contact the U.S.S _Heimdr_ and tell their captain we need their assistance in case the enemy makes their move?"

"Yes, I'll get into contact with them right away."

Reina bowed her head slightly and started to head for the office exit, but Aurelia stopped her before she headed through the doors.

"Oh Reina?"

"...?"

"Any update on the boy and his current base of operations?"

"Yes. As a matter of fact..."

※※※※※

Walking through the streets of Leanbox, a boy named Tsukamoto Shizuki let out a yawn.

After the events of the previous night, he was exhausted and weary but he tried to maintain a certain level of vigilance.

"..."

After they had lost their home, Shizuki and company had to find a new place to sleep and use as a base of operations for the time being. His 'guard', Kurosaki Kojiro had led them to a hotel in the middle of the city where he was supposedly staying, but there were several issues with the arrangement.

Currently, there was four of them in a room which only had two beds, which was fine enough, only this was really the first time, as far as he could remember, him sleeping in the same room with other people. It felt weird enough sleeping in the same room as the girls, but it felt even weirder for him to share a bed with another guy. He felt as though if someone had seen this, rumors about him swinging a certain way would start to spread. Thankfully, he didn't know that many people and it didn't seem like anyone was spying on them.

But because of the tense awkwardness, among other things, he just could not sleep as well as he wanted.

"Look... I know you were sent here to be my protection and all, but was it really necessary to sleep in the same bed as me?"

"What? Would you have me sleep on the floor? Besides, people within the military sometimes share bedding when others aren't available."

"Yeah, except we aren't in the military..."

"We are in an emergency situation however. I need to be as close to your position as possible in order to prevent an attack."

"I know, I know... damn, why did things turn out like this?"

It was currently 3:27 PM. The two males were currently returning to the hotel after buying an assortment of things, including some quick to make food, clothes and a new training sword which replaced the old one Shizuki lost. But this wasn't just a mere replacement. The sword had a different kind of purpose than what was originally assumed.

"So, about my proposal..."

"You mean about my training you? Yes, while I do think it's prudent for you to properly defend yourself, I am also a bit hesitant."

"Why's that?"

"Well," Kojiro started. "The training I underwent was very strict. After my 'teacher' agreed to train me, he left me out in the wilderness for two years to fend for myself. Afterwards, I was thrust into realistic combat scenarios where my life was genuinely on the line, and following that was a really harsh training regimen that pushed my body to its limits."

"Well damn, that's intense... was your teacher some crazy roid-head that gets thrills from almost dying or something?"

Tsukamoto couldn't imagine just how rough such training really was. There were probably a lot of other things left out that was involved in the process, but just with what he was told was enough to make him shudder.

"Well, he isn't a kind man in the traditional sense. But you can see why I'm hesitant to train you. Obviously, we can't leave you alone in the wilderness for two years given the situation, and I doubt you can handle training methods that extreme."

"C'mon, maybe it doesn't need to be that specific..."

"Hmm..." Kojiro pondered for a bit. "Maybe I could make some changes and make it simpler for you to manage without killing yourself. But still, it will be quite rough."

"That's fine I guess... I'm just tired of getting my ass kicked by stronger guys every day of the week. Now that these G.H.Q guys are really gunning for me, I need to step up my skills."

After the number of adversaries and incidents he had already encountered, he had realized just how outclassed he was when compared to his companions and enemies. He was not some skilled superhuman like IF or Kurosaki, but if he learned how to properly fight with a weapon, then he felt as though he would stand a better chance than before when things became hectic.

"If you are indeed serious about this, then I will be happy to support and guide you through this endeavor. However, don't complain when I start working you like a dog."

"H-Haha, I'll keep that in mind once we begin."

Tsukamoto laughed nervously after hearing Kurosaki's remark. While he was eager to get started, at the same time, he shuddered at what the black swordsman had waiting in store for him. The two males walked across the street while carrying the bags which contained the items they needed for the eventual move. Since their original home had been demolished, they had to get a few things to replace what they lost, provided it was something necessary for their survival, but because they did not have a whole lot of money on hand, they were limited in what they could get.

While they made their way over to the hotel, Shizuki noticed something happening in front of them.

"...?"

On the sidewalk were around four young children standing there. Three of them were boys who looked as though they were about 7 or 8 years old, and the fourth one was a blonde little girl who looked as though she were five years old. The girl in question had short hair with some oversized hair bobbles on top. She was wearing a yellow and black striped jacket with a tail, a pair of shorts and sneakers.

While the three boys were laughing and smiling, the girl looked upset as she was jumping up and down while shouting.

"...Gimme it! Gimme back my Neptuna doll!"

"No way! Why do you have a ugly doll of the stupid Planetune CPU?"

One of the boys sneered, dangling what looked to be a strange doll with a head of purple hair. If Shizuki had to be honest, it looked as though it was homemade and not something one would find in a store somewhere.

"She's not stupid! Neptuna's my friend!" The blond girl shouted while hopping up and down trying to take back the doll. "You take that back right now!"

"Why should he?" chimed in the second boy. "If you're friends with her, then just leave Leanbox already!"

"The planeptune goddess is dumb! I hear she doesn't do anything aside from eating and sleeping all day!" added the third boy.

"Grrr..."

The blond girl glared at the boys as they continued to mock her. Her hands were already curled into fists and her body was shaking slightly, as if she were boiling with anger. Tsukamoto couldn't place his finger on it, but he felt as though things would end badly if this continued. After being thrown into such a chaotic world as of late, he couldn't really afford to judge things as they appeared to be. For all he knew, the girl could be some crazily skilled martial artist.

And so, having seen enough, he walked over to the group of children to resolve the squabble.

"Alright, alright, that's enough you guys. Really, picking on girls smaller than you? Not that I'm advocating for bullying, but if you're gonna do it, at least do it to someone your own size."

After Shizuki approached them, the three boys glared at him.

"Get lost! This is none of your business!"

"Now is that any way to speak to your elders?" Shizuki said while shaking his head. "Would you honestly speak that way to your older brother?"

"I don't have an older brother and you aren't one for me! So get lost already!"

After shouting at him like that, one of the boys took a step forward and spat on his pant leg before laughing. In response, Shizuki shook his head some more.

"Oh boy, no respect at all. I can definitely see lots of jail time in your future."

"Whatchya gonna do? You can't hurt us y'know? We'll just cry and let a guard know you're messing with us!"

"You see, I can't really get mad at you. No matter what, trying to provoke me isn't going to get a reaction out of me."

Tsukamoto smiled a bit.

"So, I'll just let my friend handle this."

As Shizuki motioned over to Kojiro, the black swordsman silently sighed and fixated his gaze on the three boys. After narrowing his sharp eyes to the point of it becoming a glare which radiated murderous intent, the three boys suddenly paled with their eyes becoming white circles.

"I think an apology's in order. Not just for spitting on me, but mainly for that girl over there who looks like she's about to pummel you into the dirt."

Moving as quick as a jaguar, the three boys dropped the doll and repeatedly bowed their heads to Shizuki and the blonde girl.

"W-We're so sorry! Please forgive us!"

"Do you promise to never pick on girls smaller than you and to respect your elders?"

"W-We promise! We'll be respectful from now on sir!" The second boy responded timidly.

"Good, now run along and stay out of trouble."

The boys nodded firmly and ran off down the street as fast as their legs could carry them. After a minute or so, their figures could no longer be seen in the distance. Tsukamoto knelt down to pick the doll up before handing it to the blonde girl.

"I believe this belongs to you."

"Yay!" The girl's mood had perked up significantly as she took the doll from him and hugged it close to her chest. "Thanks a lot mister!"

"You're very welcome."

Tsukamoto gave the girl a kind smile and gently gave her head a pat. After returning his smile with her own, the girl giggled happily as she ran off, holding the doll in her arms.

"You are surprisingly good with children."

Kojiro remarked having watched the scene unfold.

"Eh, you think so? I mean, I don't really think I did anything that extraordinary."

"You could have easily lost your temper and became belligerent, making the situation even more chaotic, but you handled that pretty well."

"Well, they're just kids you know? Their behavior's understandable, but as the elder, I had to at least do something to resolve things in the best way possible." said Shizuki. "Besides, you probably could have handled it even better than I did if I said nothing."

"If it were just me, I would have simply glared at them as I did to send them running and left it at that."

Tsukamoto chuckled slightly after hearing that, but as he was going to make a remark about that, his phone suddenly started vibrating. Taking it out of his pocket, he turned it on and placed it to his ear.

"Hm? What's up, Compa-san?"

After a few moments, Shizuki stopped in his tracks.

"Really? That's great!"

"What is it?" Kojiro asked, noting Shizuki's exclamation.

"It looks like Ai-san finally found a place for us."

※※※※※

After receiving that call, the two males had returned to the hotel where they had been staying at for the night. While they were out shopping and Compa was still at the hotel, IF had been out since early in the morning trying to find a base of operations they could use, at least until the situation with Hound Dog was dealt with. Apparently, the Leanbox Basilicom could not be used as a base due to some vague explanation having to do with spilled chemicals from a delivery mix up, so as a result, no one was allowed to enter the basilicom nor leave it from fear of spreading illness from the chemicals.

With that said, IF had started looking for alternative places which could be used, contacting people she knew and had been at this for some hours now. However, it seems as though the search has ended and she had finally found a place they could use, which was what Compa had called to tell them.

And so, the three had gathered up their belongings and were on their way to meet IF at the place in question. It was outside of the city, in a wooded area of Leanbox, so it had taken them quite a while to make it to the location.

After walking through the woods for about 28 minutes, Shizuki looked around, keeping an eye out for any wild animals that may attack them.

"Hey, just how further do we have to keep going?"

"We should almost be there... Iffy's just nearby!"

Compa said while using the tracking feature on her phone to locate IF.

"So, about this new place we'll be staying at. Did she say what kind of place it is, or the condition of it?"

"Iffy said that it was some kind of cabin... she also said it hasn't been used in a while so things might be dusty."

"Are you serious?" asked Tsukamoto in exasperation. "You mean to tell me that we'll be staying in some old dilapidated shack in the middle of nowhere?"

"Shizuki, perhaps you should wait and see the place before giving it a final judgement. It isn't fair to miss IF who spent all day securing this place for us." Kojiro pointed out.

"He's right, Shizu-kun! As my grandpa always said, it's better to have a crumbling roof over your head than no roof at all!"

"Uagh..." Having found no counter for their words, Tsukamoto merely groaned as he facepalmed a bit. "I better not see anyone in a hockey mask running around out here tonight..."

"Don't worry. I will put up a bounded field as a counter to unwanted persons looking for us."

"What's that?" Compa asked, unfamiliar with the term.

"We mag- my people can create special fields by knitting a network of special energy and spreading it on a base area, such as a piece of land or a building, to create a mystic boundary line that separates the inside from the outside." Kojiro explained. "By setting this up, our base should be protected and concealed from prying eyes."

"Oh, I see! I think..."

"Well that's pretty convenient." Shizuki remarked. "Do they hide stuff like sound too?"

"As a matter of fact, they do. For instance, you could fire a missile onto the area and no one would hear a thing, as long as the explosion took place within the field."

 _("Magecraft sure is convenient, huh?")_

Tsukamoto mentally remarked to himself as he thought. The whole idea of magic societies and a magic system from his world sounded pretty crazy, and he was still trying to process it, along with the other things, but given all of what he's seen in the past week, he had reached a point where he was willing to suspend his disbelief.

From what it looks like, Compa or IF do not know about the specifics about the G.H.Q, and only thinks that the attack was Rosalia and some other third party's doing, completely unaware of the truth so far. Though Tsukamoto was asked if he had a object Rosalia and Co. was looking for, he of course denied having anything of the sort with him, though this was in fat a bold faced lie.

He was not permitted to tell the girls the truth of the situation, and that included the object that was fused into his body ── The Gem of Sephira. As long as he was able to keep them ignorant of things, at least until everything was dealt with, then everything should be fine.

"Oh, it looks like we're here!"

Hearing Compa's voice, Shizuki looked up to the path he was walking on, and his eyes met something incredible.

When he heard that they were going to be living in a cabin for the foreseeable future, the first thing that came to mind were the old, rundown cabins he saw in horror movies and games. But much to his surprise, and the surprise of the other two as well, the cabin wasn't what was expected.

In an vast clearing of sorts stood a cabin that looked like the kind house wealthy individuals would rent for a summer vacation. From what he could tell, the Cabin House had two floors, and looked as though it was built to accommodate groups larger than the one they already had. It was not a small house by any means, but it was not too big either ── moderate sized overall.

And standing by the house's entrance was a certain girl in an oversized blue coat.

"Took you guys long enough. So what do you think?"

"...Just how did you find this place, Iffy?"

Compa asked while still staring up at the building. It looks as though it also surpassed her expectations.

"Someone I know who's loaded after doing so many dangerous quests bought this place as a vacation house, though they never really got much use out of it." IF explained. "It took a lot of heckling, but I managed to convince them to let us use it for now."

"Wow... I was kinda expecting something out of a horror movie, but this works too!"

"Just wait til' you see the inside."

IF smiled a bit and opened the front door before entering it, leading the others inside.

The inside was also different from what they were expecting. Rather than the walls looking as though they were made of wood, the walls were instead were painted in a warm beige color and the hardwood floors had a burgundy carpet, spreading throughout the home. The first room they were greeted to was the living room, which was quite spacious with expensive looking furniture, including a leather sofa and a loveseat, the former sitting in front of a wide-screen television, along with other fancy everyday items. When Shizuki looked around some more, he felt as though he had stepped into the world of luxury and started to question if it was okay for them to stay in such a place.

"It looks as though you've changed your opinion very quickly."

Kojiro stated, noticing Shizuki's surprised expression.

"Yeah... I like this one."

"Unfortunately, there's no maids or butlers around, so you'll have to make your own food in the kitchen." said IF.

"That works for me, but how many bedrooms does this place have?"

Since there was currently four people that was to be living here, Tsukamoto was a bit more concerned if this place could accommodate that many people when it came to bedding. The place looked spacious enough, but he had to make sure.

"Oh, this place has at least five bedrooms, including the Master Bedroom."

"That so, huh..." nodded Tsukamoto in understanding. "Well, I got dibs on the master bedroom. Nobody claimed it first, so I got dibs."

"Hey, you're forgetting that I got here minutes before anyone of you, y'know..."

"Well," Kurosaki started. "Since we are here Shizuki, perhaps now would be a good time to begin training."

"Training?" Compa asked in slight confusion.

"Oh, I forgot to mention this earlier, but Kojiro agreed to train me while he's with us. I'm pretty much sick and tired of being the one guy that gets knocked around all the time, so I asked him to do it."

"Ohh I see~!"

"So, what do we do, 'Sensei?"

※

Moments after setting up their belongings, the safehouse's four occupants were currently outside. While the two females stood off a few meters away to watch them, Shizuki and Kojiro stood, facing each other, though no weapon was in their hands.

"...Before we start to conduct any form of combat training, I feel it is best to prepare your body via several exercises."

"Got it. So, do I just do some push ups or something?"

"That comes later. For now, try running four laps around the compound."

The black swordsman pulled out a device that looked to be a timer. Meanwhile, Shizuki started to get into a running stance. After the timer was set, he started to run. He ran in a wide circle around the safe house and managed to do the four laps, though he tripped towards the end.

After the four laps, Tsukamoto was already feeling winded, but this was just the beginning. Following this, he was required to do at least twenty three push ups, though he barely managed to pull nineteen. What came next was a series of pull-ups, his required amount was sixteen, but he could only manage ten so far. Overall, he was feeling eausted and his joints were starting to feel the burn.

"Hah... is this... the hardcore training you went through with your teacher?"

"They were worse. I only simplified them because it doesn't seem like you would be able to handle it..."

"Hah?! You mean... to tell me... **this** was the nerfed version?!"

Because it took a lot out of him, Tsukamoto couldn't really believe it. Either he was really out of shape or Kurosaki was just that kind of a monster when it came to his physiology.

"Now comes the main part, combat."

Kurosaki declaired so as he tossed a wooden training sword to Shizuki, who stood up and caught it.

"For obvious reasons, I will not be using my _Konzetsu no Aku_ for this. However, I will be treating this as a real combat scenario. I expect you to do the same."

As Kojiro readied himself, Shizuki did the same, albeit, still somewhat slowly due to him being out of breath.

 _("Ok... I can do this. I got a healing power, he doesn't. As long as I can use that to my advantage, I can pull something off.")_

Tsukamoto grinned. He was preparing to rush in towards him. His plan was to try and move around in order to exhaust him after intercepting his blade, that way, he would have better chances of landing a hit on him.

But...

*THWAP*

The distance between the two closed in almost an instant, and Shizuki's cranium was struck by a certain object. The sensation caused him to rub his head.

"Ow!"

"Your reaction was too slow. You'll need to be quicker than that."

The swordsman took a few steps back and readied himself again. Shizuki did the same after rubbing his head and this time rushed forward. His wooden sword was swung directly at Kojiro's cranium, likely to try to get him back for that first strike. But with swift movements, Tsukamoto's weapon was blocked, parried and he received another blow to his head.

"Ahh! Dammit!"

"Predictable. Rushing in like that in a real battle will definitely get you killed. Again."

Tsukamoto mumbled to himself and readied himself again. Pushing his aching joints, he started to run but this time, it was around Kojiro in order to get at his blind spot. After doing this, he rushed forward and tried to strike him in an upwards swing. But as expected, his attack was parried again and a sword came down to strike his head again.

But this time, he learned. In that moment, Shizuki quickly brought his weapon over his head and blocked the incoming strike.

"Heheheh..."

Shizuki let out a grin. Little did his teacher know that he was already somewhat skilled with a blade via kendo practices he briefly underwent years ago. He may have been rusty, but once he got into the hang of it, he would quickly manage well enough.

But...

*THUD*

"Bwagh?!"

A powerful impact struck his body as a leg made contact with his abdomen, sending him flying back a bit and onto the ground.

"Gaagh.. Really? C'mon, nobody ever said anything about using body parts! Isn't this against the rules?!"

"I believe I said something about treating this as a real combat scenario. In these, there are no established rules. The enemy will not adhere to anything and will use everything in his or her disposal to defeat you."

"Ugh..."

 _This was going to be a long training session_ , he thought. For about a good twenty more minutes, Shizuki was repeatedly hit in several different places by Kojiro's wooden sword. At some point, Compa had went back inside to make dinner since they were bound to be hungry after this exercise and it would get dark soon, so she wasn't around to see this, but IF was still there and she could only sigh with pity as the blue-haired youth continued to flail about while getting hit as though he were a sack of potatoes.

※※※※※

Hound Dog.

They were a division within the G.H.Q that stood out considerably from the others. Unlike the others, this division was made up entirely of D-Class Personnel ── people who were not official members of the G.H.Q, but people who were apprehended by G.H.Q and other law enforcement agencies for violent crimes. In other words, they were convicted felons who were either given life sentences, or were on death row for their actions. G.H.Q would essentially pluck these individuals out of federal prisons and have them become unofficial members of the organization under the promise that their sentences would get reduced or dropped for their service.

Of course, this was a bold faced lie created by G.H.Q officials to keep them in control. In reality, D-Class were only kept around for as long as they were useful, and once their usefulness had reached a certain point, the D-Class were then disposed of in some manner.

In the eyes of the G.H.Q, D-Class personnel had no human rights ── they were simply disposable pawns, stripped of their former identities and placed with numbers instead. Some D-Class were not all bad people, some of them were innocent people who were wrongly convicted of a heinous crime and was put into this situation. They simply had a desire to return to their former lives, but knew deep down within their hearts, that this would never happen.

Jason Rumlow was one of these people.

Though he had once been a delinquent in his teen years, he had saw the error of his ways and decided to lead an honest, trouble free life.

But as fate would have it, an old friend from his highschool years had gotten him involved in something he thought was a minor request, but in reality it was something much bigger and troubling, and was framed for murder.

His time in prison following his betrayal had worsened his overall views on certain things, and thus he lost faith in humanity. His number was D-9127 and was the leader of the Hound Dog Task Force, 'Valkyrie Killers' after being brutally trained into the hardened mercenary he currently was.

His only personal mission in life was to survive as long as possible. He quickly knew that as long as he played the useful dog, he would live longer.

"..."

The sun had set, which was the perfect time for the Hound Dogs to go on the move. His team's mission was to scout for the location of Tsukamoto Shizuki who had evaded the previous team's capture due to Die Walkure's interference. As such, their search had led them to a wooded area just outside of town.

"Status?"

"It looks like the scent is still very fresh," a Hound Dog Operative said while holding a device of sorts. "I can tell you that they passed through here roughly five hours ago. No doubt, the scent is definitely our guy."

what the operative was holding was a device called an Olfactory Sensor, a portable machine that could track the scent of a person. Even if it was raining, the machine would still track the individual's scent.

Originally for use by perfume and deodorant industries, it was converted for military use later on down the road by G.H.Q and other organizations. The machine was shaped like a handgun with a suppressor, however, the muzzle was actually a sponge-shaped sensor not unlike the appearance of a microphone. A 3-inch LCD monitor was currently mounted on it where the user could track the target's scent.

This was how HOUND DOG got their name, and how they were tracking Tsukamoto Shizuki and his cohorts.

"If only they knew we had means of tracking them. You can tell that these guys are amateurs, they didn't even bother to hide their scent."

"They're a bunch of brats, what did you expect?"

Said another Hound dog member standing behind Rumlow.

"Just because they're young don't mean we can underestimate them. I heard one of them fought toe to toe with the Jaeger and drove him back. That's gotta take some serious skill no matter how you look at it." Rumlow added, recalling what he heard when he was shipped there earlier today. "Also, I hear one of G.H.Q's best is a fourteen year-old asian girl."

"Man, you serious? Fuckin' monsters these people are. Is everyone in this messed up business a secret super soldier or something?"

"Thank cutting edge technology for creating this freakshow." muttered a female Hound Dog member who stood beside the former. "Between Espers and the organization's prided KNIGHTS, I'm not even surprised by even the most ridiculous things."

"In any case, let's just shut up and get this job done. The more we keep screwing around, the sooner that Jaeger fucker will lop our heads off for being sloppy."

Rumlow ordered his subordinates, they in response obeyed. They knew just how ruthless the Jaeger was to people like them, and with Rumlow's core motivation of surviving as long as possible, he didn't want to risk pissing the man off even slightly.

There was currently ten of them that was in that area and each one of them was scanning their surrounding movements in the dark trees. The man with the Olfactory Device was still following the scents they had captured. But, something seemed to catch his attention as he stopped walking.

"──? What is it, Sitwell?"

"How strange, a fifth scent was picked up...?"

"What? you mean to tell me they had more people with them?" Rumlow asked questioningly.

"It looks like it... though the info said that we should be tracking at least four people."

"We're going to have to be more vigilant on this OP. We may be tracking down four people, but for all we know, there could be forty people lurking around in these woods. Stay sharp."

The other members tensed up slightly as they raised their guard, actively scanning the forest around them for anything that moved. However, the one called Sitwell looked up from his device and let out an audible noise of surprise as he saw something up ahead.

"..?"

Standing in what looked like an open clearing was the tall figure of a woman with long blond hair, flowing in the evening wind along with cold azure eyes. She wore purple armor and had a sword sheathed at her side. If it had been day light and in other circumstances, most of the males would agree that she was indeed a beauty.

A dangerous aura filled the area. They knew that this woman was bad news as soon as her gaze met theirs as their guns were already trained on her. Due to their covert nature, the secrecy of their operations are highly protected, and as such, Hound Dog operatives are to terminate any threat, be it an enemy or a bystander. A part of their covert nature was to cover and erase their own existence, and so they would go to any lengths to do so.

The way the woman had been standing there, seemed like she was definitely the former. But before they even had a chance to move, the woman's arm moved swiftly as she threw two skewer-like objects at high speed, which struck Sitwell in his neck, and another operative in his head, killing him instantly.

"..?! Open fire!"

Gun shots began to ring out following Rumlow's command, but the bullets did not hit their intended target. Instead, the target had moved with great speed, that they managed to avoid being struck.

With blinding speed, that person rushed towards the female Hound Dog member who had her gun trained on her and a lightning kick was delivered to her torso, sending the woman in black flying upwards. Naturally, she would come spiraling down to the earth after such an occurrence, which is exactly what happened. However, because of the angle of which she rapidly descended to the ground, she landed on her head which caused an audible crack from her neck, resulting in the female operative's body becoming as limp as a doll.

But the blonde woman in purple armor didn't stop there.

She continued to move towards the other Hound Dog Operatives with superhuman speed and drew out a silver longsword, slashing it across the waist of one man and struck the back of another in quick motions, promptly ending their existence.

Rumlow took a few steps back and hid behind a large tree as the chaos ensued. He was aware that the world he was currently in had people who could perform extra ordinary feats and those even on earth like Espers and many of G.H.Q's KNIGHT Operatives, but this was his first time seeing such things happen with his own eyes.

 _("This is crazy. What in the hell are these people thinking, sending powerless guys like us into this freak show? There's no fucking way we can handle something like this!")_

Rumlow felt as though the G.H.Q were completely amoral monsters. He understood that his fellow D-Class were awful people who have committed various crimes but felt as though they still deserved to be treated like human beings, regardless of what they've done or where they came from. Forcing them into what was essentially, militia slavery then throw them into an environment where they had to contend with inhuman beings was the equivalent to putting a random person in a den full of lions. Not to mention, how many of these D-Class were innocent people who were wrongly convicted like he was?

But in the end, while he could sympathize with them, he had no loyalty or reason to stick by their side when it came down to it. Rumlow ultimately wanted to survive as long as he could, in hopes of reaching some form of light at the end of this dark tunnel. As a team, Hound Dog really had no real attachment with each other, and would even betray one another if a reason for it arose, such as self preservation.

 _("But it's a good thing I nabbed this while everyone else wasn't looking.")_

Rumlow took out something from his pocket. It looked like some kind of oddly shaped syringe with an orange fluid inside.

 _("I heard that Extremis was an advanced form of genetic manipulation that enhanced people's duribility and gave them other kinds of powers... If I use this, I can stand on an equal ground with these freaks.")_

From what he knew, a certain corporation in Japan had developed Extremis as a means of enhancing the physiology of those who used it, in order to live longer and to survive, even if they were to suffer an injury that would normally cripple someone for life. In order to rewritie their DNA, it harnessed bio-electricity in the body and used to activate parts of the brain that governed repair and recode it chemically. This would allow a user to hack into the basic operating system of living organisms. If the user's body chooses to accept it, the user will gain regenerative healing abilities, making them able to heal all wounds, including previously-amputated limbs or even psychological damage.

He had no idea why a lot of the non-Hound Dog D-Class Personnel he was sent with was carrying such a thing, but it didn't seem like they would be used for combat. If that were the case, then his fellow operatives would have used it the minute that blond woman attacked.

Speaking of which...

"...And all that remains is you."

At some point, the chaos that had been happening there had ceased and that cold female voice was now directed towards him.

Rumlow stepped out from behind the tree and looked at his surroundings. On the ground laid multiple corpses, wearing the same gear and equipment Rumlow was wearing. There was no doubt ── his entire squad had been taken out by this mysterious woman.

But before he could utter a word, the blond woman spoke once more.

"Your entire force has been eliminated, your leaders have all but abandoned you to your fate. What will you do?"

Despite her cold sounding voice and gaze, her lips seemed to twist into a smile of anticipation for some reason.

"Will you keep fighting, knowing full well that the odds are severely stacked against your favor, or will you lower your weapon and surrender?"

"Hah," Rumlow spat out. "You joking? Even if I surrender to the likes of you, I'm a dead man in either case. That skull-faced fuck will hunt me down and kill me faster than you can sneeze."

"We would protect you."

"You won't protect shit," The twenty five year-old operative readily replied. "I know how you organizations operate, you take in rejects of society like me and have us do dirty work in return for freedom, but I know the truth. I won't ever be free. At some point down the line, you'll just kill me once I've outlived my usefulness, just like those bastards will do."

"..."

"But even so, I wanna choose when and how I go out. I ain't dying like some little pansy with his tail tucked between his legs. So I'm gonna do whatever it takes to survive for as long as possible, even if I gotta do some unpleasant things."

Rumlow tossed his assault rifle to the side and took out the Extremis serum, placing it onto his chest.

The Blond woman's eyes seemed to move slightly following the action, but it was too late. The serum was injected into Rumlow's body and a noticeable change began to occur.

His body began to glow orange from within as his eyes began to glow the same color. If he was unmasked, fiery veins would be seen on his neck as his body began to generate extreme amounts of heat through a complex metabolic process, generating heat from his body up to several thousand degrees Celsius.

As he developed this power up, Rumlow chuckled.

"Hahahah... so this is what it's like to be a meta Human!"

The blonde woman seemed to narrow her eyes a bit as this happened. She appeared to be thinking just how troublesome this affair became.

Rumlow pulled out what looked to be a machete followed by what seemed to be extreme heat being conducted through the weapon. At that moment, the blonde woman readied her weapon. She had realized that talking was not going to get her anywhere and had decided it would be better to end things here.

Without hesitation, Rumlow shouted and rushed forward whilst swinging his blade. And with a swift motion...

"..?!"

Rumlow's arm was sliced right off.

The woman's speed was too fast for Rumlow and was thus unable to defend against her attack. He shouted in pain as he held the stub of his arm. But instead of blood pouring out, something else happened.

The wound he received looked more like burning embers as it started to regenerate. Within seconds, a new arm had occupied that space, glowing with heat. In response, the blond woman brought her sword down to end him, but that new arm had instead, caught it.

Rumlow chuckled lowly.

"You think I'm gonna go down from just that? It's like I told you ── I'm gonna do whatever it takes to survive!"

He slowly got back to his foot as he slowly lifted up the blade.

"Even if I have to melt that pretty face of yours, even if I have to burn down this goddamn forest, I'm going to live! I'm going to drag my ass out of this dark freak show, clear my name, and live a proper life somewhere remote! And no one, nothing is going to get in the way of ──"

Rumlow suddenly stopped speaking.

It wasn't as though he stopped of his own free will. The smoking hole in his chest seemed to suggest otherwise.

And so, Jason Rumlow, the man who swore to live no matter what, had his life end so abruptly.

"..."

The blonde woman frowned a bit as she watched his corpse fall to the ground, the heat inside the body fading, but she paid it no heed.

"So you finally show yourself."

Standing just a few meters away from her in the trees was the visage of a hooded robed figure with glowing red eyes. In his hand was a pistol that had shot out a high energy bullet which immediately destroyed Rumlow's heart.

"I had a feeling that these fools would screw up somehow, so I merely observed from the shadows to see how things would play out. Though, I wasn't expecting D-9127 to actually take the serum."

The Jaeger bemused as he lowered his weapon. The woman's cold gaze was now focused on him as she raised her guard higher than it was previously. The other people were of no concern really. Even if she had gotten hit by their bullets, her armor and enhanced physiology would protect her.

But the Jaeger was a completely different story. He was an enhanced individual like she was and was a highly skilled assassin. He was at a level where he could pose a threat to her if she wasn't careful.

"But it's interesting," The Jaeger muttered. "You are similar to me in another aspect. Like me, you've had your body tampered with to become a powerful soldier haven't you?"

"..."

"Though you do not seem like someone who voluntarily went with it. Whatever the case might be, I'm curious to know about it."

The Jaeger removed a dark sword from his cloak. The sword was called the «XE Newtype 7», nicknamed by the Jaeger himself, Selena. It was a type of advanced weapon used for close quarters. He favored it pretty well, as it had a function called Eviceron Mode. When he activated Eviceron Mode, the sword became charged with a blazing red energy which was capable of burning through most metallic alloys like butter.

The two raised their swords in anticipation for their inevitable clash.

But something had stopped the fight before it even began. Without warning, a flash of white light flew past the blonde woman from some undetermined location from afar and struck the Jaeger in the shoulder of his bionic arm.

"Tch..."

The Jaeger clicked his tongue in mild irritation. Several more white flashes were fired from that same location, though this time the Jaeger was prepared. Jumping back further into the trees, he swung the blade and intercepted each of the flashes. Upon realizing that the blond woman wasn't alone and that a sniper was targeting him, he conceded and retreated into the forest with superhuman speed.

with all the action having ended, the blonde woman sheathed her blade and sighed.

"I had it under control you know? Jumping in at the last moment was not really necessary."

"Sorry Jasmine. I saw an opening so I decided to take it while he was not moving."

The voice of a young man spoke from the tiny earpiece she was wearing.

"And yet you were unable to kill him... well, no matter. Our role was to push the enemy back and prevent them from discovering the exact position of a certain visitor. Nothing more."

"I don't detect any further hostiles moving in on your position. It looks like this is it for the night."

The young man on the other end concluded. The blond woman named Jasmine looked down at the bodies of the Hound Dog Operatives laying on the ground.

"What becomes of these bodies, Darius? If they remain here, surely they will be noticed eventually."

"We'll leave that to a 'clean up crew'. For the time being, we should return to the _Heimdr."_

"Understood... I will meet you at the transport point."

Having turned off the communication, Jasmine turned away from the fallen bodies and headed into the forest. With the threat neutralized for the moment, here was no longer a need to remain there. But even though, she could hardly relax. The enemy was tenacious and it was unlikely that they would give up.

And so the war would continue.

※※※※※

The Jaeger had returned to the Zeypher Wing and was currently making repairs on his bionic arm. Thankfully, the damage was not extensive, and with his onsite equipment, he was able to make the nessecary repairs that she give him full functionality within the hour.

"..."

The Jaeger was not pleased with tonights results however. If he had to be honest, he had a low opinion on the new Hound Dogs' capability to handle this task of finding them and had a feeling that the enemy organization would retaliate in some manner, though he wasn't expecting for them to send a super soldier to intercept them. He was some how hoping that a new Hound Dog team would resolve the issue, but since they were pretty much taken out, he had to resort to another certain method.

"Well, this is a rare sight."

The sudden voice came from the woman known as Arfoire ── The Deity of Sin who was standing in the doorway of his office.

"The enemy intercepted Hound Dog again. This time, they sent an enhanced like me along with a sniper." he stated while focusing on his arm. "It wouldn't have been so bad if I had actually got the chance to cross swirds with that woman."

"I told you sending more of those useless fools wouldn't improve this mess. Didn't your superior suggest an alternate way of going about this?"

"Heh. The reason why I sent Hound Dog was to avoid going with that method. But I guess there's no other option. D-Class may be expendable, but even they aren't unlimited."

The Jaeger bitterly stated as he came to that conclusion. If they kept directly trying to capture the boy, Die Walkure will keep cutting down their forces like weeds. There would be no point in continuing such a method.

"I will go with the second method. Even if it makes me the same as the scum I resent so much, I'll do it to finish this mission. After all, I crossed that certain line long ago when I put on the mask."

"This will be interesting." Arfoire mused as she smirked. "I wonder how Gamindustri will react?"

"Only time will tell. Since the enemy is anticipating another attempt, we will wait three days. That should give us time to prepare D-Class with Extremis serum."

The enhanced mercenary rose from his chair and went over to a panel that was connected to a monitor on the wall behind his desk. Upon turning on the monitor, multiple things appeared onscreen, ranging from obtained photos of their targets and some D-Class Personnel to details of the Extremis Serum and marked locations from a map.

Even though he was somewhat displeased by using this method, for some reason, his lips behind that mask twisted into a smile.

"The hunt really begins here."

 ** _Episode 8_**

 ** _The Domain of the Enhanced Ones_**

* * *

Afterword

Greetings. To those of you who were following the story since its inception, welcome back, and to those of you who just found it, welcome. Episode 8 has finally arrived and this one is sort of a meh for me in my opinion, but maybe that's because there's a bit more downtime in this entry in comparison to the previous two eps. So without further ado, let's get into the details.

Not a lot happens here, though there are some more set ups, details and new characters introduced, as well as a cameo of a certain young goddess.

In regards to the two new characters who appeared, they will appear periodically from time to time, but they won't be explored as much in the main story. Instead, they will be main characters in a planned side story which will be titled _Sephira: SS._ You can expect to see that come out some time in the future, so if you want to know more about them check that out when it eventually comes out.

I thought that Extremis was a cool, (but very underrated) concept marvel created, so I decided to use it for this particular part of the story. This version of Extremis will be further explored in the future, and some interesting things will be done with it. As for backstory, I won't spoil too much, but it was developed by a Japanese corporation with the idea of making humans more durable, since the person running said company believed humans to be too fragile for the world they live in. But of course, something goes terribly wrong and trouble happens, which leads to G.H.Q taking possession of what was left.

The overall theme for this ep was Super Soldiers and a world where ordinary people are outclassed by people stronger than them. This is pretty much shown in Shizuki's desire to improve himself as a combatant to the Hound Dogs and their position in this 'Secret War'. The previous 7 eps. may or may not have had a recurring theme for each of them, but I feel as though the aforementioned theme is especially prevalent here.

And I believe that's it. This one was a bit shorter than the others and I understand if you feel as though this entry was somewhat lacking in a sense. It was mainly because I didn't really know what to do with this one and I didn't really want to jump right into the next incident. The next entry should be a bit better since there will be some better character interactions and moments, now that a friend of mine who pretty much co-created the story is now helping me out with dialogue when it comes to certain characters. With that in mind, please stay tuned for the next entry.

Follow, favorite and review the log-

This is Kino and I lay my pen down for the night.

...Still no artwork/illustrations. *le sigh*


	9. Episode 9: When Chaos Rears its Head

**_Episode 9_**

 ** _When Chaos Rears its Head_**

Brock Andrews was never really someone who could be called a saint.

When he still lived in America, he was someone who always had problem with authority and as such, he would constantly challenge it. As a result, he always got in trouble with the law and would occasionally get arrested for small things such as, assault, disorderly conduct and mischief. He was a truly rude person and was generally the type to get in one's face if they bumped into him on the street.

But one day he went too far.

There was a moment where he had gotten completely wasted after having too much to drink, and because someone said something that offended him, he lashed out. he fell into a rage where he had beaten that person into a bloody pulp and had left them with injuries so severe, they died minutes later.

It did not take one's imagination to know what happened to him afterwards.

Naturally, he was charged for his actions and was given the lengthy sentence of 20 years to life without any chance of parole, a punishment that nearly sent him into wrathful hysterics when it was given. Needless to say, by all accounts, his life was over.

So why was he at a concert in Leanbox, a country that was part of the continent of Gamindustri which was not even located on earth?

He was recruited by the extra-governmental military counter-terrorism organization, known as the Global Homeland Qalbalah, which most people generally refereed to it as the G.H.Q and became one of their D-Class Personnel.

He did so under the premise that he would be granted freedom and be able to lead a new life somewhere. However, this was merely a lie so he could be kept as their disposable pawn for as long as they needed.

He was not a member of the Hound Dog Division, but he was one of the D-Class that carried out other dirty tasks such as being guinea pigs for the Science and Technology Division. Of course, if he refused to comply, he would be terminated.

So the organization has once again decided to use him as a disposable tool, and this time, his mission really was to terminate himself. But this was done to achieve a specific purpose.

Which was why he was at that concert.

"Fucking hell..."

Andrews mumbled to himself as he tried to make his way through the noisy crowd around him. Of all the kinds of things he hated, it were crowded places and loud places, and a concert of this magnitude was able to masterfully wrap the two together. Andrews was a person that was generally unnoticeable, unless he started becoming belligerent, so no one would really see him as suspicious.

He looked at the watch on his wrist. It was 1:34 PM. Just about the time he should make his move. Andrews positioned himself within the center of the crowd and took out a odd looking syringe with orange fluid.

This was Extremis.

It was a serum that used genetic manipulation to enhance the people who took it. If his body accepted the process, he would be given great power. If it did not accept the process, it would lead to a devastating result.

Andrews planned to take it with the intent of the latter occurring.

"Even if I refused this job I'm fucked either way. Why not just go out in a better way than being shot to death?"

This was his reason for doing this. There was no other outcome that resulted in him living, so he decided to go along with the mission and carry out what he needed to carry out because he had wanted to go out in a blaze of glory rather than simply being executed. He wanted to die on his own terms.

A drug was already injected into his body in order to cause the Extremis Serum to run out of control. All he had to do was to take it.

The crowd continued to cheer as loudly as their vocal cords could allow as the performer finished their second song of the event. he couldn't see very well, but based on the voice and the gaps in between the crowd, the performer was a teen-aged woman with long blue hair, and wore a black outfit that was expected of an idol to be seen wearing on stage.

"Thanks for listening everyone~! Did you enjoy the new song?"

The blue haired girl addressed that question to the audience as they responded with a very loud "YEAH!" The noise was beginning to cause him a slight headache.

 _("Tch... better end this quickly.")_

Smiling at the cheers she was receiving, the performer spoke some more.

"This next one's going to be a classic! Are you ready to hear it~?"

"YEAH!"

The time on Andrew's watch had turned 1:36 PM. At that moment, Andrews lifted up his shirt and injected the serum into his body. Following this, his veins became fiery as his body generated heat which was around hundreds of degrees and rapidly climbing. The process causing his body severe levels of pain, it felt as though he had been forced to swallow a fireball and it was beginning to burn him alive from within.

As the heat intensified, the nearby members of the audience felt it and started no notice it. At first they were merely confused and some looking at Andrews out of concern, but most of them stepped away.

The rest of the audience wasn't aware of what was going to happen.

The blue haired girl who was the performer didn't notice in time.

And by the time anyone could react, it was too late.

"A...Ahhhhhhhhh!"

A loud noise rang out.

It all happened in an instant and everyone, including the stage performer was confused. Andrew's body had reached 3,000°C and a loud explosion spread out, engulfing at least four dozen of the people in the audience, and this signified the point where the concert had fallen into complete chaos.

※

Before she had realized it, Lyrica had been knocked to the ground. The shock wave appeared to have pushed her down, but since she was nowhere near the lethal range of the blast, she was not really hurt.

"Hnn..."

As she sat herself up, she could hear the crowd screaming. They were not screams of cheer and joy however... rather, they were screams of fear and panic. She was at first confused as to what had happened, and how her concert which was going so well up to that point, had descended into mass panic with people knocking each other down and trampling on each other to get out as quickly as possible.

And then, she saw it.

"...!"

Her face donned an expression of horror when she looked at the point of the explosion's origin. Within the closest proximity of the point, were at least a dozen shadow-like marks of the people that were vaporized, on the floor, and with them were charred remains of around thirty others. Some more people could also be seen lying on the ground with their some of their limbs blown off and were writhing on the ground.

"A...Ah..."

Many emotions were rushing through her head at the moment, with most of them being variations of fear and total despair. Eventually, she was unable to control them all, and a horrific sound had escaped her throat.

※※※※※

* * *

A young man named Darius Karlstein was walking through the halls onboard the U.S.S Sargasso. He had hair that was a blonde/white color, his eyes were Bluish-Green and he was wearing a blue military uniform. Though he was not beside his associate, Jasmine Valestein during the attack on the Hound Dogs three nights ago, he definitely participated.

He was sent to the Sargasso in order to give Aurelia A. Cromwell full details regarding the events of that night. Normally, Valestein would have accompanied him, however, because of her 'other duties', she could not make it. Thus, Karlstein was the one to give the report.

Making it to the Commander's office, he pressed the button on the panel and entered the room, speaking with politeness.

"Please excuse me, Commander Cromwell. I'm here as requested of───"

Darius stopped in his tracks. He had to do a double take as to what he was current seeing with his own eyes. If the lighting was brighter, one would see that his cheeks were a shade of pink.

"Ah, welcome Private Karlstein~"

"..."

Aurelia was in her office as usual when she was not needed on the main bridge, but instead of being in her chair, she was currently sitting on top of her desk in a rather seductive manner. Her uniform jacket was off and the shirt she wore underneath was unbuttoned at the stop, giving one clear view of her cleavage area. And to top it off, she had the kind of smile that would drive men to madness.

"What information doth thou hast to share with me~?"

"Well..."

Darius averted his gaze as he tried to relay the information. He was warned that Aurelia could be rather... eccentric sometimes, but this behavior was something that completely blindsided him. He was unsure how to react since he had never been in a situation like this before.

"We... recently discovered that the G.H.Q forces had a new shipment of D-Class Personnel... S-Some of them were part of the Hound Dog Division like the ones me and Valestein had dispatched... but most of them were non-Hound Dog D-Class."

"Oh? I wonder why they want such people for this conflict? Hast thou discovered yet is there more?~"

"Well yes..."

This was starting to become exceedingly bizarre for him. Between her seductive appearance, and her painfully archaic way of speaking, he was having an even harder time trying to give his report.

As if she noticed his being confused and uncomfortable with the current situation, Aurelia got down from her desk and walked over to Darius, all while still maintaining that smile.

"What ails you Darius~? Thou look quite unwell."

She spoke gently as she was practically standing right in his face, which only caused his cheeks to darken in color.

"Wh-What are you doing, Commander?"

The commander placed her soft hand on his cheek, which began to become hotter. She felt the sensation, but she paid it no heed.

"Ah yes. Thou hast had it quite rough haven't thee?"

"P-Pardon?"

"You aren't human are you? You are... a homunculus, or rather.. something similar, created by those cretins."

Darius' eyes widened slightly at her remark.

"You... know about my history?"

"Indeed~ G.H.Q created thee with some unsightly intent, yet thou escaped and were taken in by us. Since too thou've played the faithful soldier, yet maugre thy work for our organization, the captain which thou currently serve hath been treating thou quite ill. Look, thy cheek is bruised."

Though it was faint, his left cheek was certainly bruised. Normally it would not be seen if the person was far enough away, but since she was right in his face, it was clear from there. Darius averted his gaze as he spoke.

"That... is nothing. Thanks for your concern, but it really is───"

"You need not serve that awful man any longer~." Aurelia kindly said, cutting Darius off. "Say, why do not thou become mine subordinate? I warrant thee, thou shall be taken care of quite well."

It was at that moment that Aurelia's blue eyes began to give off a faint glow, which automatically drew Karlstein's eyes into hers. This was a very simple trick most Magi used called, Hypnotic Suggestion, a form of magecraft which compelled those under its affects to obey certain commands and instructions.

But Karlstein was able to resist it somewhat.

"But... I can't. It... isn't permitted."

"Is that man not even letting thee leave his command? Worry not, I will take care of those details. After all, we are all in the same organization are we not? Surely it would not be treason to change locations~."

Darius' heart began to beat faster every time she spoke to him. He was trying to resist the affects of the Hypnosis effecting his brain. He wanted to keep declining her advances on him, but he was also feeling compelled to accept them.

However...

"...Commander Cromwell."

"?!"

Aurelia shivered at the icy tone of the female voice behind her.

"L-Lieutenant Valestein?! But why art thou hither? Were thee not busy with thy other duties?"

"...Yes. Something did come up on the surface, but I was relieved from that duty and came here. But I have a question... just what in the world are you doing?"

Despite her feeling the pressure of Jasmine's cold gaze, Aurelia tried to put on airs.

"T-T'was a prank I say! Thou knows how much I enjoy pranking my subordinates, so I decided to mess with private Karlstein."

"Is that so? As a senior officer, you should hold yourself to a higher standard and set a good example for your crew... I have reminded you this three times in our meetings, and yet you still insist on fooling around."

A dangerous aura was felt around Valestein.

"Darius?"

"Y-Yes?"

"Would you please step out for a moment? The commander and I need to have another, 'discussion'..."

Aurelia's shoulders comically tensed up a bit when she said that. Darius, not wanting to be around any longer than necessary, stepped out of the room.

"Sorry Commander. You're on your own."

"Egads?! Nay, don't leave me with this ice queen! T'was merely a prank! Please don't take it personally!"

Jasmine shut the door and and started to walk over to Aurelia who was now sweating nervously. A dangerous glint was in the swordswoman's eyes.

"It also seems like I need to correct that ridiculous manner of speaking too. Come here."

"Hah?! Just what is wrong with how I speak? Is thee truly unrefined as to not comprehend───?! Nay! Unhand me! W-Why are you placing me on your lap like this?! Nay, Nay, are you doing what I think you are doing?! Nay, N───kyaaaaaaa!"

With the sounds of a hand repeatedly making contact with human skin and comical cries and pleas ringing throughout the U.S.S Sargasso, Darius stood outside in complete disbelief.

"Just why...?"

※

"Goodness..." Aurelia muttered to herself, now was fully dressed and was sitting in her office chair pouting like a child. "Must you be so rough? I even apologized multiple times..."

"You still needed to be punished."

Jasmine stated sharply. Darius was back in the room now beside the blonde knight and he simply let out a sigh.

"Ahem. So, about your findings?"

Aurelia said, while regaining her original, professional composure.

"Yes," answered Karlstein. "To be honest, there wasn't anything useful we could find on the bodies, but, one of the operatives used a serum called Extremis."

"Hm?"

The commander's eyes moved a bit when she heard that term. It seems like this wasn't the first time she heard of it.

"From what we know, Extremis is a serum that uses genetic manipulation to make humans stronger." Valestein picked up. "It was apparently developed by the Kannzaki Corporation with the goal of localizing it to the masses in hopes of making every human enhanced."

"One of the Hound Dog Operatives took the serum and attacked Jasmine, but he was taken out by his own leader, The Jaeger."

"I wonder why they are using it. After that fiasco with ALCHOBATA, one would think that they would avoid using something so unpredictable."

"This is not the only time Extremis was used here." Jasmine said, responding to Aurelia. "About an hour ago, an explosion occured during a concert in Leanbox. Local authorities are attempting to figure out what happened, but I believe this was a deliberate attack, using the serum's dangerous affect as a weapon of mass destruction."

Aurelia pondered for a bit. She was more or less already familiar with the serum having hearing about it from reports regarding a certain number of incidents which took place the previous year, but she could not figure out what their endgame was for using it in such a manner.

"I see. Is that all?"

"Yes, for now that is." Valestein nodded.

"Very well. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. Should you find anything, please do share your findings."

"Of course, we'll relay that to Captain Archibald."

The two officers bowed their heads and dismissed themselves from the office. Now that she was alone, Aurelia had time to process the information she had been given.

"Just what are you people scheming?"

※※※※※

* * *

About Three days had passed since Tsukamoto Shizuki and his comrades had relocated to that cabin. During their time there, they had already gotten used to the new lifestyle there. For Tsukamoto, his daily routine consisted of him waking up in the late morning/early noon and being subjected to perform a number of exercises. First, he had to do a few stretches before doing 20 Sit-ups, 32 push-ups, and 5 laps around the compound, all while Kurosaki Kojiro barked orders like a Drill Sargent. Overall, it was exhausting but he was slowly getting accustomed to it.

After completing these daily training exercises with Kojiro, Shizuki laid on the grass yard just behind the cabin safehouse. Since the weather was currently nice today, he decided to take a brief moment and relax in order to enjoy the current spring-like temperatures. However, he would eventually end up falling asleep for nearly fifteen minutes.

"..."

It was early enough into the afternoon where Compa had made lunch for everyone after their training sessions. Having informed everyone but Tsukamoto that it was ready, Compa headed outside in search of him just in case he hadn't gone anywhere else or back inside, only to find him asleep beneath a tree. She smiled a bit at the sight of it, but she still had to wake him nonetheless. With a slight huff of breath she then proceeded to walk over to Shizuki, standing just behind his head as she leaned down to lightly poke at his cheek.

"Hey, Hey.. it's time to wake up you slugabed..."

Feeling his cheek being poked repeatedly, Tsukamoto started to slowly open his eyes, only to see Compa standing over him.

"Hm...? Oh hey, Compa-san... What's up?"

"You fell asleep Silly. I came to wake you, food is ready."

"I did, huh? Guess I chose a pretty relaxing spot rest then." Tsukamoto chuckled as he sat up, rubbing his eyes a bit. "So what's for lunch today?"

"Ah, well I made multiple things.. so there is Chicken and Rice Salad, Buttermilk Blueberry Muffins, Beef Noodle Soup, Canele's and some fresh Lemonade. Is that okay..?"

"That works for me! I'm fine with anything you make."

Tsukamoto answered honestly. He was not really the kind of person that gave empty flattery to people, so when he said things like that, he usually meant it.

"That's good!" she smiled happily in response. "Come on then, the food will get cold otherwise."

Standing up, he dusted himself off and started to head over back to the house with her. Since he worked a bit extra harder today, he had developed quite an appetite.

"I hope you had a nice dream by the way, you looked quite peaceful you know."

"I bet I did, considering that spot I chose. Speaking of the dream I had, it was more... odd than nice."

"Odd how?"

Compa tilted her head slightly. She nor anyone else did not know this, but Shizuki had been having a certain dream since the very first night he awoke in Gamindustri. He found it to be a bit abnormal for him to have the same dream over and over again and was having more questions about it everyday.

"Well, the dream I had was about this crying girl and a boy meeting her on a winter day... at first glance it doesn't seem that weird, but the odd part comes in the fact that I've had this dream multiple times..."

"Oh really..? Did you wanna talk about it later? I'm pretty much free."

"Oh, that's okay." Tsukamoto shook his head. "I don't want to bug you with something that could be nothing at all. Besides, the dream itself isn't really bothering me. It's just kinda... bittersweet."

"It will only continue to be on your mind if you don't talk about it.."

"Yeah, guess you got a point there..." He sighed, realizing that arguing was futile.. "Alright, we can talk about it later."

"Great! For now, focus on eating. Gotta keep up your energy and strength after all."

"Very true! I'm so hungry I could practically eat a horse right now..."

Even as he said this, he could feel his stomach rumbling from the current lack of food in his body. He had only really eaten something light that morning before spending the rest of the day. Needless to say, he was 'low on fuel', so to speak.

"Good thing I made a lot then! My, I just have quite a knack for this kinda thing."

"You sure do! Just about anything you make tastes good."

Shizuki smiled as he once again gave his honest opinion.

"Aww, thank you! I work really hard to be perfect at things I like to do."

"I can tell, though try not to overdo it a little. We don't want to have you collapse from overworking now do we?"

"Heh, you worry too much. I should be saying that to you since I'm the nurse here!"

Tsukamoto lightly chuckled at her comment as they neared the front entrance of the house. He knew just how much she prided herself as a nurse.

"Haha, that's true, although I can pretty much heal quickly y'know?"

Compa pouted a bit at his words, "Healing doesn't equate to physical energy, you're still a normal person outside everything else."

"Eh, guess you have a point." He shrugged. "After all, I'm no super assassin like Ai-san or Kojiro."

"Precisely! You have to look out for your health."

"Yeah, gotchya. I'll try to take it easy and you try not to overdo it too, deal?"

"Deal!~"

Having reached a consensus on the subject, the pair exchanged some smiles as they reached the house. Eventually, they entered through the door and joined the others for lunch. Even though they were on the run from a hostile force, one which two of the residents of that house were unaware of the true details, it didn't really feel like it as the days they spent here went by like this.

And so that peace continued throughout most of the day as usual, unaware of the chaos that had unfolded elsewhere.

※※※※※

* * *

The Leanbox Concert hall was another hotspot found within the nation.

There, many events were hosted, from Gaming Display shows to special parties were held in that large building. Today, a concert was being performed there by the musician known as Lyrica, also called 5pb, and due to her having a large fanbase, no one who liked her songs missed a beat as they took time off their schedules to make their way over there, and the building had begun to fill up within seconds. Like with all of her concerts and events, it became quite lively with the audience becoming excited and hyped.

However, this concert did not end well.

That was because tragedy had occured and nearly four dozen people died as a result.

The Jaeger was currently standing the rooftop of a building several kilometers away from the Concert Hall, viewing the place through the scope of a sniper rifle, called the «Type 54 "Black Star"» nicknamed, Anna.

Though it couldn't be seen because of his mask, a smirk had formed on his face. His 'plan' had worked as he expected it to. By having the D-Class position himself in the center of the crowd, the Extremis explosion had taken out a good number of people like he anticipated and as such, fear and panic was abound as the Leanboxians were confused and distraught by the event.

"Hmph, how utterly helpless they are."

A certain voice of contempt spoke on that same rooftop, but it was not the Jaeger's.

It instead came from a Grimm Crow that was about the size of an average house cat that was perched on the roof's edge.

It was Arfoire communicating via a familiar.

"They think their goddess will somehow be able to protect them from their enemies... how naive. The denizens of Gamindustri has grown complacent in their reliance of the goddesses to the point of being unable to fend for themselves in the face of despair. As the Deity of Sin, I will mercilessly destroy the illusion that is their faith of the goddesses after I've defeated them."

"Hm, if my memory is correct, the CPUs of this world derive their power from the faith of the people. Hopefully after we cause several more 'incidents' via the Extremis D-Class, their faith will begin to wain."

The Jaeger stated plainly as he looked through the scope.

"In order for me to make up for my loss of power, I need a weapon that is capable of destroying them once and for all, which is why I joined forces with you people." Arfoire spoke bitterly through her familiar. "How long will it's construction take?"

"According to the Operation Directer, it may take up to three weeks. The Science and Technology Division is still working on analyzing the Chaos Crystals we extracted from caves. Besides, the agreement between us still stands."

"Tch, what more could I possibly offer to you? Once you make the broadcast, everything will fall into motion and that boy will be yours eventually."

"The Grimm Cube."

The eyes of the familiar moved slightly at the mention of that term.

"What of it?"

"You can conjure up those creatures you call Grimm using that artifact of yours. It might serve as a useful weapon when we need it."

Grimm were dangerous monsters that was said to have gone extinct centuries ago. Each kind of Grimm had certain capabilities that made them stand apart from the other, such as fire breathing or unleashing beams of light from their eyes, and even regenerating limbs. The Grimm as a species were formidable, however, they were supposedly wiped out by the CPUs.

But not all of them.

The Grimm still lived within an artifact called the Grimm Cube. Whoever had sufficient power to wield the cube was said to have dominion over an undetermined number of Grimm of all shapes and sizes.

Arfoire, despite being weakened still had enough power to use it and have control over the remaining Grimm.

"You make it sound like summoning Grimm is an easy task. Doing so takes up quite a bit of prana. I may be the deity of Sin, but I am no power conductor that lasts forever."

"Relax," readily replied the Jaeger. "If all goes according to **That Person's** predictions, we won't have to use it. Although..."

He thought of Arfoire's wound she received during her attack on IF and Compa and asked a question.

"You still want pay back for the one who messed you up that day, do you?"

"Tch, do you even need to ask? Of course I want to get my revenge on that damn'd windwalker! A mere human by herself defeating the Deity of Sin is unacceptable!"

The woman behind the familiar scowled upon the mention of that person. If she was not alone and was instead with a goddess like a certain ruler of planeptune, she would not be as angry about it. However, since IF was the one who beat her in combat, that was something she couldn't live down. If she didn't find her and defeat her, she would never rest easy.

"Heh, in the event our prey is found, you can have at it with the others. I don't particularly care about the interfering rabble. Tsukamoto Shizuki is the one I'm tasked to capture."

"As long as we can agree on that. After that brat is captured, you people will give me the weapon so I can destroy the Goddesses and bring the four lands to ruin with my Grimm Army. And who knows, perhaps you could be part of the new Arfoire World Order as my personal aide."

"I'm not interested in ruling a world I have no care for." The Jaeger replied. "For the past fourteen years, my mission has always been one thing: Elimination of Crime and Terror. Those who commit such vile act of terror have no right to exist as a human. They should be purged and eliminated like the plague they are."

Hearing that, Arfoire had started to laugh, noticing a glaring issue in his statement.

"Uwahahahahahahaha! What kind of nonsense is that? Isn't it rather hypocritical of you to say that, when you have already committed similar actions here in Gamindustri?"

"Keh," he spat out bitterly. "Why did you think I was hesitant to go with the Operation Director's suggestion in the first place? I know how my actions look, at a certain view, but this is not my world. I have no love or hate for it, therefore, I am a bit lenient when it comes to taking certain actions. I crossed many lines a long time ago in order to achieve my objective of making **my** world better. I may be considered a terrorist in this world, but back in mine, I may be considered doing God's work."

He was not conceded enough to call himself a hero by any stretch. Even though he may have saved many lives on earth by eliminating dangerous terrorists and criminals, anyone could tell that he was a twisted individual who seemed more heinous than virtuous in his brutal actions.

When it came to his work in the field, he had always likened himself to that of a machine, whose only purpose was to eliminate dangerous people. Everything he did was a mere prelude to that goal. He did not think Tsukamoto Shizuki was that much of a threat on his own and doubted the legitimacy of the claims of the higher-ups that Gamindustri was a dangerous force that had its sights set on earth. But he was never one who complained about his job. Though he had some distaste towards certain things, in the end, he would complete it in the most efficient way he saw fit.

Even if people had to get caught in the crossfire, the end result was worth it. If he had to kill a hundred people, innocent or otherwise to kill five dozen criminals, he would do it without hesitation. Terrorizing Gamindustri and hunting Tsukamoto was simply a path to destroying the terroristic enemies.

Like Die Walkure, which was dubbed a terrorist organization by multiple countries on earth.

"...Besides, this is all I have. Punishing those who deserve it is the only thing that gives me joy in this life."

※※※※※

* * *

A considerable amount of time had passed and lunch has since ended already. as such, everyone had either gone back to their respective rooms, or were simply elsewhere on the property, going about their business. Shizuki however, was currently in the living room lounging on the sofa while looking at the flat-screen television. Since there was nothing really interesting on, he was passively flipping through multiple channels after 5 or so minute intervals, just to see if they would grab his attention for longer viewings. Needless to say, he was somewhat bored, having been there for almost thirty five minutes.

 _("Man, I'm bored... as much as I like this place as a home, being cooped up in here most of the time kind of sucks.")_

Because they were on the run from the Jaeger and his forces, the group couldn't just walk around however they pleased around Leanbox or the rest of the continent. It mainly applied to him though since he was the main target they were after.

Having had enough after flipping through several more channels, Tsukamoto turned off the television and stood up. He wanted to get some fresh air before it got dark out, just to find a better way to pass the time, so he went out side through the front door and stepped out onto the porch. Upon doing so, he caught sight of a familiar person.

"..."

Sitting on a swing attached to the cabin's porch was Compa, who looked as though she came out to enjoy the weather too and had fallen asleep in the process. In actuality however, she was not asleep and had simply closed her eyes due to the calming and lulling, coupled by the nice spring breeze around her.

But Shizuki didn't know this. On one hand, he felt as though he shouldn't disturb her due to how peaceful she looked at the moment, but on the other hand...

 _("Heheh...")_

Shizuki gave a cheeky smile as he held up a feather he found laying around inside. Trying to be as stealthy as he could, he went up to her and brushed the tip of the feather on her nose, lightly tickling it.

With an annoyed 'hmph' Compa opened her eyes a bit and glanced in his direction.

"What are you doing..?"

"Haha, sorry about that. It looked like you were sleeping, given how peaceful you looked and well, I couldn't help myself there."

Though he was slightly surprised that she was awake, Tsukamoto chuckled lightly. Of course, he had no ill intent when he used that feather and was simply an attempt at childish fun.

"Looks like you also found a relaxing spot."

"I did. It's nice getting to sit still while the calm breeze lulls one into a relaxed state..."

"I bet. It does feel kinda nice from here..."

Tsukamoto closed his eyes ad he stood there for a moment. He had to admit, the nice breeze that was currently blowing through the air did feel rather pleasant to him too. Compa then patted the spot beside her, beckoning him to sit there.

"Ah, that's right."

Having remembered the topic of the earlier conversation, he went over to the spot next to her and sat there.

"So.. about the dream..?"

"Where to begin... well, I can remember most details about it, given that I've had this dream at least five times now..."

He started to recall the images of the dream in question.

"Like I said before, it starts off with this young girl who's sitting in the snow crying... people are walking by, but they just seem to ignore her for some reason... then, a boy about the same age as her approaches her. I don't remember what they said, but at some point the girl stopped crying."

"What does she look like? Or is it just darkness?"

"I can't really remember her face that well, but after the third time, I started to notice a few things about her features... for starters, she wore pink and red clothes and her hair was short and was in some kind of blonde color..."

"I see.." Compa frowned a bit. "Anything else you can remember..?"

"That's pretty much all I can remember for now. But for whatever reason, this seems familiar and kind of sad... but I just can't place my finger on it."

That was the worst part about it. Whenever he had that dream, he would get feelings of notable happiness, along with feelings of sadness mixed in with it. It was very odd for him, not to mention that he would get a vague feeling that this was something that he had either witnessed or was involved with, but memories of such an occurrence escaped him no matter how hard he tried.

"Familiar how? If you have the dream again, will you tell me what you see..?"

"Sure... if I have it again and I notice anything else in it, I'll let you know."

"Good, I wanna be someone you can rely on after all!"

"Thanks, I appreciate that."

Responding to her smile which seemed to shine as bright as the sun, Shizuki returned a smile of his own. As usual, whenever she smiled like that, it felt as though his worries had been washed away.

"Is there anything else you wanted to talk about..?"

"No, I think that's all I wanted to talk about for now..." Tsukamoto shook his head.

"How are you holding up by the way? Things have been pretty quiet, Iffy seems to be getting along nicely with Kojirou too."

"Yeah, I've noticed that too."

Originally when the two first met, he did not think that they would get a long that well due to how their personalities were, but much to his surprise, they started to click together quite well.

"It's kinda cute. Usually Iffy is only like that with me."

"Heh, It's kind of surprising. It looks as though Kojiro's a bit more 'relaxed' when talking with her. Usually, he's about as stiff as a rock... but then again, so is Ai-san too sometimes."

"Oh really? I didn't notice.. he seems so calm all the time." Compa then gave a sly smile. "I say we spy on em' a bit! I wanna see if we can determine anything from them together."

"A bit of ol' recon work eh? Sure, let's do it! To be honest, I'm also curious to see what they're up to right now."

"Hehe~ Let's go then..!"

Having said that, the two smiled and started to head back inside the house to do just that. Tsukamoto was a bit bored for the rest of the day, so he felt as though this was a good enough way to pass the time. Upon entering the house, they proceeded to walk up to the second floor and go into the left side of the hallway. At the end, there was the door to Kojiro's room which was only cracked open a bit.

Shizuki and Compa crouched down and peered into the room at an angle where they could not be seen immediately. Sure enough, the two people in question were indeed standing inside, having a conversation.

"..."

It seemed as though this had been continuing for at least several minutes and from what he could hear, it sounded like Kojiro was explaining something, likely involving Magecraft, all while IF was listening with her arms crossed.

"...It is an issue of identity. For what purpose do magi practice magecraft? If one does not know of this, they can't speak of Magi." The black swordsman continued explaining. "Many of us practice magecraft in order to achieve a specific goal in life, such as curing an ailment or passing on a tradition. To that end, we carve those goals onto our souls in the form of Thaumatergical Names. Mine is Eradicus771. The numbers on the end are there to prevent duplicates."

"I see, it sounds pretty interesting." IF remarked, nodding in understanding. "I doubt me and Compa's abilities belong to any type of group, at least not that I'm aware of. Honestly, they're more strange than anything since they oddly just came to us naturally, yet practically rip us apart if we use them."

"I have heard from Shizuki that there are people in his world that are born with abilities not unlike yours. Only from my understanding, these abilities aren't lethal to their users in the way yours is..."

Due to also being from that world, Kojiro also knew of this, though in order to keep with his current facade, he was feigning some degree of ignorance on the topic.

"It also seems as if both of your abilities were specifically designed to work with the other."

"I wonder why? I mean, it could make sense since Compa and I have been friends as long as we can remember. But, why would it be specifically for us to work together? I can't even imagine how it would work if we hadn't known each other."

"Indeed, this is quite a rarity as far as powers go..."

Having witnessed their fight with the Gleam Eyes as well as their conversation after it via his familiar, Kojiro was already aware of IF and Compa's strange abilities. The thing was, he could not figure out what worked behind them. Every phenomena he had encountered belonged in some kind of system or category. Earth and other worlds had Magecraft or Magic, Earth also had humans called Espers born with special powers due to a specific gene in their DNA, and Shizuki, who gained unnatural powers via an artifact with contained Telesma.

But the two girls had powers that could not be explained or fit into any one of those categories.

"What I don't get yet is why it rips us apart. Compa and I have to balance each other out just so we don't die."

"I can say that that may be the only thing your power has in common with magecraft. The practice itself is a double edged sword, and those with inadequate training can suffer deadly consequences with one's circuits overloading and their bodies being destroyed. But then there's the synchronicity between your abilities that can't be explained..."

That was also another strange factor. He had heard stories of Espers who could synchronize their abilities to some extent, but such occurrences were very rare and it was not as clear cut and perfect as these two's abilities were. If they both used their power on their own, it would have some deadly drawbacks with continuous use, but when used together, a certain balance where they can both use their power for prolonged periods was achieved.

"I haven't properly apologized to Compa yet," IF started with a somewhat cloudy gaze. "When we were alone, I was the only one able to fight because she was being restrained. I nearly got myself killed just for her, to at least make sure they wouldn't hurt her. But they threatened her safety... I did what I had to even if it hurts me."

Hearing those words, Compa frowned a bit. She didn't like how IF nearly got herself killed and her being unable to help in that situation.

"I'm sure she understood what you had to do. You were both in a precarious situation and had to do whatever you could to get yourselves out of it. I'm certain no one would fault you for that."

"I know..but she's all I've got, y'know? The last thing I ever want to do is hurt her."

"If I were as I was several years ago, I could understand the sentiment... instead, the person I am today would feel somewhat differently."

"What do you mean..?"

As if he was recalling a bitter memory, Kurosaki's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Where I come from... in a world where everyone is striving to compete against each other, it feels as though such bonds are ultimately meaningless in the grand scheme of things. I may have thought otherwise when I was younger, but after certain things and events I was exposed to during my 'travels', you could say that I've lost faith in such things. You see too much darkness, and the light can be hard to find... and when you do find the light, it is beyond your reach."

"Have you found any new light though..? If you dwell in darkness for too long, it's harder to pull yourself out of it. Sometimes, you need a little guidance. Have you ever, well... considered looking for someone to help you regain your belief in others?"

"I'm afraid that isn't possible," Kurosaki readily replied. "You see, I am nothing more than a husk that contains only bitterness. It is not as though I wish to be this way. If a convenient person who could be that light did exist, I would gladly welcome them. But as of now there is no such person. there is nothing that could be done about the lock that is permanently fused shut on my heart. The thought of even trying to open it disturbs me..."

A cynical statement.

Because of a mixture of things, such as his upbringing in his family, his life as an assassin and soldier, and the climate of which earth was in, he had lost hope for those kinds of things. People had betrayed him. Others may have met an untimely demise, and others simply could not understand him. As a result, he had resolved himself to exist as a machine of sorts while keeping everyone he contacted at arm's length. He did not want to feel the pain that would come with such connections.

But...

"Will you stop talking like that!?"

Merely out of an uncontrolled instinct, IF slammed her hand against the wall behind her in agitation. The action had caused the other two who were still watching this unfold to flinch a bit.

"How can you say stuff like that when you haven't even tried? You won't know if someone like that is out there if you don't make the effort to look for them! I would know..! Compa has been the reason I keep going every day, so that I have a reason to ensure the future of others. If I can have a light, then so can you..!"

"..."

For the first time, Kojiro was at a loss for words. For the longest time, he had resolved himself to give up on finding such hopes in people, deciding to keep everyone he encountered at arm's length. After what he had endured in the past, he simply detached himself from the world around him, only living for the sake of eradicating the evil of others. His stoic mask appeared to be slowly crumbling, as his expression was starting to show signs of anguish.

"I... I understand what you are saying. But, it isn't as though I am distrustful because I am afraid of the thought of getting hurt... **what frightens me is what I will do after I've gotten hurt.** "

That was it. This was what the Mind of Steel that was Kurosaki Kojiro was built on. Simply feeling pain from potentially losing someone or being betrayed was not enough. Instead, he was worried that pain would drive his psyche to some unknown darkness and possibly never return. As such, that lock was constructed around his heart, and his mind was turned into unyielding steel.

But that was starting to come apart at the seams. This was the first time as long as he could remember, his distorted resolve was being tested like this.

IF was acting on full uncontrolled instinct at this point, she could see by his face alone that she was getting to him. She had always been known as a voice of reason for this kind of thing, getting through to people no matter how harsh-spoken she had to be is what she did. Turning to face him IF gripped his shoulder tightly and wouldn't allow him to break eye contact.

"Everyone gets hurt you fool! It's what makes us all alive..! Are you telling me you'd rather live in a mindset where you aren't truly alive? Because being afraid of something so trivial..it's just giving up on life."

"I... you don't get it." His expression became tense even further as he tried to explain, though he was still trying to suppress it. "If I let myself become exposed to specific emotions... I will lose myself completely. If that happens, I... will become a threat to everything around me, including you... **I.. may.. become compelled to grab you by the neck... and snap it in half!** "

When he said this, his voice started to sound distorted, as if the pitch had been lowered slightly. To add on this occurrence, his eyes had briefly turned black with dark red dots for irises before reverting back to their original appearance. As if realizing he had briefly lost himself in his anguish, he took a quick step back and placed a hand over his head.

"..."

IF wasn't sure why she did what she was about to do. All the nerves and instincts inside her told her to just leave it be but she couldn't. Instead, she did not care for her safety at the moment and gathered up all the courage she could find as she stepped closer to him before gently embracing him.

"I..don't care about that. I can't leave you like that..I just can't."

"Ah...?"

Feeling her slender arms around him like that caught him completely by surprise. He was unsure how to respond to something like this.

"What... are you doing?"

"It's called a hug dummy.. get used to it."

"But... why?"

Kurosaki tilted his head slightly, unable to comprehend this girl's actions at the moment.

"Because I don't care what happens. I want to help you.. no matter what."

"I... I see."

It appeared as though he had finally relaxed a little as the tension left his shoulders and his expression softened a bit. It was then that a thought had entered his mind. If this person was really serious in her assertions of wanting to help him, then... would it be alright to cast aside the wall he had built for many years? He knew that doing such a thing would not happen overnight. It was something that would take a bit of time to undo, perhaps even with the same amount of time he had it to begin with. He hated himself for being this way, and if there was anyway for him to be able to smile once more, to form bonds once more, and to trust once more without fear of falling into unfathomable darkness, then he would take it.

So just this once, he conceded.

"Then... I suppose I will be in your care."

"I'll take good care of you. I'm just as good as Compa..so I'll give it my all. But I expect you to try too. Got it?"

"Yes... I will also try my best in that regard."

Kojiro gave a light nod as he said that. Though he did not realize it, his face had a natural smile on it for once.

※※※※※

* * *

"Well, that was dramatic... I totally wasn't expecting to see anything like that."

Tsukamoto Shizuki sighed a bit and rubbed the back of his head. IF and Kurosaki were completely unaware that the pair was practically listening in on the entire conversation. As such, they heard and saw some things that wouldn't have left that room. Currently, Shizuki and Compa were now in the living room, on the sofa while trying to process what they witnessed.

"Me too, I don't think I've ever seen Iffy as passionate as she was just then. Those outbursts.. were genuine."

"Yeah, and I've never seen Kojiro act like that too...talk about a shocking discovery."

"Really? Iffy must be really good at breaking down people's barriers."

During the short period of time they had known him, he had never really shown any kind of emotion, so to see him become like that through IF's outbursts was something that totally blindsided them. But there was something else that completely surprised them.

"I'll say, I never thought I'd see the day where Kojiro's icy shell gets broken like that... also, was it just me, or did his eyes kind of look crazy for a second there?"

"Yeah, it was scary.. I'm surprised Iffy kept her cool in front of it."

"I kinda thought he was about to go psycho when that happened... but I'm glad things seem to have ended on a good note."

"Iffy is used to violent people, even if he had done something I'm sure she could handle herself."

"Yep, if she can stare down and take on a fifteen foot tall blue monster in a one on one fight, she can definitely handle one guy going crazy."

To be honest, when he saw Kurosaki briefly change into... whatever that was, he was kind of worried that some kind of fight or incident was going to break out, and was actually half ready to step in if things had escalated further. Thankfully, Kojiro managed to restrain himself and things ended the way they did. Tsukamoto made a mental note to not push certain buttons.

"Heh, yeah.. so what should we do now? We should leave them alone for now."

"I agree. I was planning on just looking some more television before turning in for the evening... wanna watch with me?"

"Sure! I'm just gonna go change into my pajama's real quick, I'll be right back I swear!"

"Ah, okay then!"

Shizuki responded as Compa started to run back upstairs and off to her room. He reached for the remote lying on the coffee table and turned on the television. He started to flip through channels, but as he flipped to the second one, he saw that it was a news channel reporting on some Breaking News. The news that was currently being covered by the middle aged man had grabbed his attention and he started to watch to find out more.

 _"...Investigators are still looking into the deadly incident at the Leanbox Concert hall where Popular Musician and Idol, Lyrica was performing earlier this afternoon. Many believe this to be the work of a suicide bomber who had placed themselves in the center of the crowd before setting off the explosives. So far, only forty people are reported to have died in the explosion, with many of the victims completely incinerated by the blast. The families of the victims are grieving and demand answers from the Basilicom. Still no official statement from Lady Green Heart or Lyrica herself..."_

 _("Who the hell would do something like this?")_

Tsukamoto frowned at the news he was currently watching. When it came to incidents like this, he could never comprehend the reasoning as to why anyone would not only off themselves in a such a manner, but to get innocent people involved and end their lives too. he may have hit some low points before in the past himself, but never once did he feel as though he had to destroy himself and take uninvolved people with him.

After a few minutes, Compa returned in her sleepwear with her hair ties in small ponytails on each side. When she looked over at Shizuki, she saw that his expression was somewhat grim, and then looked over at the television to see what was going on.

"Oh.. did something happen?"

"Yeah, it looks like something happened earlier today... something about a bomb going off at concert."

Hearing that, her expression changed to that of a worried one as she looked at the TV some more.

"A concert?!"

"It looks pretty bad... apparently the bomb exploded in the middle of the audience and about forty people didn't make it..."

He frowned a bit as he relayed the information to her.

"It looks like the performer and a lot of others are okay, but still... what kind of wack-job thought it was a good idea to blow himself up and take random people with him?"

"Yeah but..who was the performer..? A friend of ours is a really big musician in Leanbox."

"It's someone called Lyrica apparently..."

Upon hearing that name, Compa's eyes grew wide.

"5PB! That's her..!"

"Wait, really?"

She nodded and replied. "She's an elegant and amazing singer on stage, but in person she's a really shy and timid person. Just talking to a person makes her scared..now I'm worried about her."

"Yeah... I bet she must be devastated by now given what happened."

Based on the description of her personality (which seemed oddly familiar somehow) he was given, he could only imagine what she was currently going through. If anything, the incident had to have affected her the most. After all, she held that concert in order to share her songs with the people who enjoyed listening to them as well as to others who have not heard her music. Having a tragedy of this magnitude occur at an event where she only wanted to make her fans happy must have been terrible to witness.

"I..I'm gonna go see her tomorrow, at that point I have to. Her sister isn't around very much so she's gonna be dealing with the trauma all by herself.."

"Ah, can I come? I want to help too."

"Are you sure? Your life is still in danger after all.."

"It's fine... she needs her friends to be there to help her feel better right? I might not know her, but it doesn't mean I can't do my part to help her too."

He felt like that was the right thing he should do. It was true that he didn't know them, but at the same time, they were very likely suffering from the trauma of the incident. Not to mention that they were also friends with Compa and IF. It overall just felt appropriate for him to be there to try to help them overcome this.

"Besides, I don't think the people that attacked us are crazy enough to try anything in broad daylight."

"You don't know that.."

"Well, yeah but──"

Before he finished his sentence, he suddenly heard a static-like sound come from the television. When he looked to see what was happening, he noticed that the image was flickering, as if something was interfering with the current station, causing him to tilt his head in confusion.

"Eh? What's with this thing?"

"Huh..?" Compa turned back to the TV and looked at it. "That shouldn't be happening unless someone is trying to override the connection.."

While they continued to look at the television, wondering what was going on with it, the image finally started to become clearer as the dark outline of a man in a hood could be seen in what looked like a dark room. A certain pair of glowing red eyes could be seen peering through the screen.

Shizuki's heart immediately sank. There was no mistaking that figure. After what had happened several days ago, there was no way he could forget such an appearance.

And to top it off, that disturbing voice spoke through the television's speakers.

 _"This is a message and statement addressed to the people of Gamindustri, so pay attention, because this is the only time you will see this. I am Veryron Ashtar of Die Walkure, and we bring you this message for a specific purpose."_

 _※_

In Planeptune, a certain purple haired goddess was currently trying to set up a gaming console while her sister was carrying a tray of pudding into the living room. When they heard the Jaeger's voice speak through the television, they turned their attention strange broadcast.

 _"As you may already be aware, at 1:36 PM, an explosion had occured during a concert performed by the Idol known as 'Lyrica.' Many people died as a result, and no doubt many of you are looking for an explanation. That was us. We planted a suicide bomber in the audience and had it go off, annihilating the people around them. More bombers will be sent to multiple locations in the four lands, and the devastation will get worse after each explosion."_

 _ _※__

In Lastation, a certain twin-tailed Goddess was sorting paperwork on her desk when she had heard the strange broadcast and focused on the wide-screen television on the wall.

 _"But there is a way for you to stop this."_

At that moment the image of a certain blue-haired youth appeared beside the Jaeger's shaded appearance.

 _"His name is Tsukamoto Shizuki. He is an individual in possession of a dangerous weapon that is capable of destroying your planet. We seek to recover it as soon as possible, and we need your assistance."_

 _ _※__

Over in Lowee, two twins and their older sister were currently watching television. When the twins' favorite program was interrupted, the two girls complained, but they never took their eyes off the television. When the sisters saw Shizuki's image, their eyes had widened in significant surprise, as they already knew who he was.

 _"However, I will establish a few rules while we are present here. If you attempt to send your goddesses to intervene in this situation, we will conduct an even larger attack that will destroy the stability of all four nations. We have the resources and man power to do so while undetected, so don't even try it. This is your first and final warning. Unless you want your lands to be thrown into ruin, you will not get involved. This also goes for any third parties that also feel vindicated to intervene."_

 _ _※__

Over in Leanbox's Basilicom, a certain blonde goddess was currently watching the broadcast after her gaming session had been interrupted.

 _"To those who find Tsukamoto Shizuki, you are to detain him immediately. After you have done so, you are to contact the phone number that is placed on the top left of the screen. The number is untraceable, so don't attempt it. Afterwards, we will come to you and take him into our custody. Once he is ours, the attacks will cease and your nations will continue to stand another day. Those who find him will also be rewarded and be given enough money to live comfortably for as long as they live. Every day he is not found, more attacks will occur and will get worse with each succession."_

 _ _※__

Shizuki and Compa continued to watch the broadcast as the Jaeger spoke the last of his statement.

 _"And to Tsukamoto Shizuki, I say this: If you do not want the people of this place to suffer any more, surrender yourself to us."_

"..."

 _"This is Veyron Ashtar of Die Walkure, and you have been warned."_

And with those parting words, the television returned to the regular programming that had been on. Most likely, the same thing was happening with every other television in Gamindustri.

Compa fell silent before slowly turning to him with a frightened expression.

"...You're staying here, Shizu-kun.."

"..."

With a completely unreadable expression, Shizuki stood up somewhat slowly and left the living area, walking upstairs to his room and closed the door behind him. Shortly after his hand was immediately clenched into a fist which had struck the wall of his room.

"Fuck!"

As if he were a puppet whose strings had gotten cut, he dropped to his knees and leaned against the door before placing his hand over his face. At this moment, there were so many emotions swirling through him that he could not think clearly.

"Are you kidding me... are you fucking kidding me..?"

He didn't even know where to begin. The G.H.Q was really gunning for him, and they were even willing to turn the entirety of Gamindustri against him in order to flush him out. But more than that, the people who died at the concert, the performer who was suffering from the aforementioned incident, all of it was because they wanted to get him. That fact alone made him furious to no end.

"Goddamn it! Why does it always turn out like this?! Can't they just leave well enough alone?!"

He slammed his fist into the door as he seethed in anger. He was furious at everything at the moment; the G.H.Q, the situation, but most of all, he was angery at himself. Everything that happened was his fault, all because he had an artifact of power fused into his body. As he continued to go over the situation, he was starting to feel more hopeless towards it. Even if the G.H.Q threat is some how dealt with, one thing was starting to become certain.

Tsukamoto Shizuki had no future in Gamindustri. The people who lost loved ones in the concert incident will no doubt blame him for it and will blindly try to find him, either to turn him over to the Jaeger or enact some form of revenge on him.

And there was without a doubt the others will get involved.

"Damn it all..."

Shizuki sank his head down as he hugged his knees, his back up against the door.

...And outside that door was Compa who followed after him out of concern, however she stayed outside the door to give him a moment to himself. She didn't want to upset him in the moment, thus became hesitant.

 _※_ _※_ _※_ _※_ _※_

* * *

Aboard the U.S.S Sargasso, someone else was furious but for a different reason entirely.

That was Aurelia A. Cromwell. She was the kind of person who rarely got angry because there were not that many things in the world that could set her off. However, one of those few things had occured just recently, and for her, this one thing was worst thing she could ever witness.

"How conceited of them... to invoke the name of the great founder in such a manner... is the absolute zenith of blasphemy."

She muttered to herself in a low tone that would make anyone shudder. She was of course referring to the Jaeger's Broadcast, using the name of not only the organization, but the Founder of Die Walkure himself, Veyron Ashtar, a person she was descended from.

Turning off the monitor on her desk, Aurelia rose from her seat and reached for a silver Jewel Staff with a blue gem and donned a white overcoat of sorts.

"Where are you going, commander?"

Reina Rosenthal, the person who reported the footage to her asked, wondering what her superior's intentions were.

"Worry not Reina. I am not so blind as to seek out revenge blindly. I am just heading out to prevent this situation from becoming even worse."

"I understand. I will take over for you until you get back. But... what do you intend to do?"

Aurelia simply chuckled lightly and explained. "Why, I'm simply going to attend a meeting. I may be violating the prime directive for this one, but there comes a point where protocol will do us no favors."

"...I see. if you feel as though it's important enough to ignore the prime directive, then I won't stop you."

She nodded in understanding. Reina also knew how dire the situation had become and it seemed as though Aurelia had a plan that would at least stop the fires from spreading even further.

"How unbecoming of us," Cromwell simply sighed as she headed for the door. "This whole time, we were thinking that those people were just going to keep sending their dogs to find the Gem's Vessel. Little did we know they would resort to such tactics. We dropped the ball on this one and it is up to me to pick it back up."

"G.H.Q is becoming bolder in their operations on the surface. At this rate, it may spiral into an open war."

"Well, we will cross that bridge when we get there. For now, we should keep that bridge from burning."

The doors to the office opened up and Aurelia walked out, heading down to the ship's transporter room. As she watched her superior make her way down the hall, Reina reflected back on the day's events and thought of a certain individual.

"Stay safe, Shin..."

 ** _Episode 9_**

 ** _When Chaos Rears its Head_**

* * *

Afterword

What's this? two episodes in two days? What kind of magic is this?! Well, I'll get into that in a little bit, but welcome, to those who read the previous entries and those who just found the story. I'm Kino, and let's just jump into it.

Well, this episode was focused a lot more on our main characters and their relation ship with each other, rather than the advancement of the plot itself, though that is of course still prevalent here. I did have help with the dialouge here, so I hope you enjoyed the significant change in that.

Anyway, so now Gamindustri is aware of Shizuki's presence and are being forced into conducting a manhunt for him under the threat of deadly attacks like the one we've seen here. I wonder how they will get out of this one, hm? That being said, the eventual showdown with the Jaeger and Arfoire is coming soon and may be two episodes away, so expect our heroes to get thrown into action, as a pretty interesting fight scene will be in it. Do look forward to it.

A big, big thanks to **SayomiLena** for helping me out with the dialogue and character interactions for this one. I seriously doubt I could have come up with anything better without her aid. You can expect to see more from our collective effort.

Follow, favorite and review the log-

This is Kino and I lay my pen down for the night.


	10. Episode 10: Cornered Prey,Falling Utopia

_**Episode 10**_

 _ **Cornered Prey / Falling Utopia**_

This is the story of a certain man.

Just about fourteen years ago, he once had a name just like any man or woman born on earth. It was an unremarkable name that anyone in America or the U.K could have, and he himself was not remarkable either. He was just an ordinary person who aside from having some military experience, had no abilities or latent power lurking within him.

He did not come from a linage of Magi, therefore he was not a Magus.

He did not have the ESP Gene passed on from his parents, therefore he was not an Esper.

Just an average, ordinary man.

That man had a family, one of which he loved very much, and in turn, they loved him. To most people who knew him well, he was a kind and helpful person who would have done anything for his loved ones, even if it was an inconvenience for himself. He did not even see it that way. As long as his loved ones were happy, he could care less.

There was a certain day where he was going to meet his family at a big event in town. He had worked extra at his new part-time job, so he was running a bit late. In all honesty, he was glad that he could get to spend the rest of the afternoon with his family and was heading there with great anticipation.

But then Tragedy happened.

He heard the loud sounds of gunshots at the event he was going to. He was at first surprised by the sudden noises, but then he saw the people who were there, running and screaming from where he was heading. It was then that he was fully aware of the situation that had unfolded.

He ran.

He ran as far as his human legs could carry him.

He was hoping that those people were not caught in it.

He did not care if he was heading into the danger zone of the incident. By then the gunfire had ceased, but that did not mean the danger had passed. Even though he knew that, he still ran without hesitation.

He made it to where it happened, but what he saw instantly crushed his heart.

On the ground were at least two dozen or so people who at this point were looking like corpses. Underneath them laid a pool of crimson red liquid that slowly painted the whole floor beneath it. And among those bodies, he saw his worst fear.

What he saw was a girl.

What he saw was the girl's older sister.

What he saw was their mother, holding onto them as they laid motionless in that crimson pool.

It took him a while to register what had happened. Were they really dead? Is this an illusion? Surely this is an awful dream I can just wake up from right?

But it was no dream. It was no illusion. This was reality, and those three people were indeed dead.

A title wave of emotions slammed into him as he screamed louder than he ever had in his life.

Rage.

Sorrow.

Grief.

And many other emotions continued to build up as he screamed some more. Tears could be seen streaming down his face as he screamed so loud, his cries were starting to sound as though they did not belong to a human.

It was then that his soul had been crushed and replaced with an incorrigible malice towards the people who committed this act. His sorrow and grief had been quickly replaced by that of hatred and malice.

 _This cannot go unpunished._ He thought. To say that darkness had consumed him would be an understatement. That darkness had completely merged with his very soul.

 _If this is how things will be... then so be it. If the world is this cruel, then I will become even crueler than that. If those who commit heinous actions in the name of an ideology, I will tear them apart and destroy that very ideology they hold dear. I will not just kill the wicked... I will destroy their very being and make them long for something so sweet as death. Only once I have hurt them to such a degree... will they have my permission to die._

He swore. He swore from the darkest pit of what remained of his heart. No one could understand the depths of which this darkness lay, but one thing was certain.

The man he once was no longer existed. As far as he was concerned, that man died along with his loved ones.

In his place, a new being emerged. One that was twisted, distorted, and would instill fear into those that heard his name.

He trained for four years, pushing his body to the brink in an attempt to surpass his limits as a human. He suffered for it, but that pain was insignificant to the pain that was felt on that fateful day.

Once he felt he was ready, he would spend the next ten years, traveling the world and hunting down those who would do evil to the innocent. He would be their Judge, Jury, and Executioner, and would deliver the cruelest of punishments no one could ever imagine.

Some would call him a vigilante. Others would call him the Grim Reaper.

To most of the world he was only an urban legend, one of which mothers and fathers would use to scare their children into being good, upstanding people in society.

Even in that regard, he was quite a presence which chilled people to their spines, but it still did not compare to those who had seen him, and were targeted by him.

For those people, the mention of his name would send them into hysterics. To them, that demon was as real as the victims he slaughtered.

Do you know what that name is?

His name is ──

※※※※※

Gamindustri had been at peace for a very long time.

Even though ill-doers and other threats had tried to disrupt that peace, the people of the four great lands had no fear, for their goddesses have protected them each time.

However, that peace was now being challenged again by another force.

About some time ago the previous day, a message was broadcasted to the entirety of Gamindustri. The broadcast had taken responsibility for a deadly attack that happened at a concert in Leanbox earlier that day, and had threatened that there would be more attacks unless a certain boy was handed over to them or turned himself in.

The man claiming to be Die Walkure's Veyron Ashtar further explained that the boy had a dangerous weapon that was capable of destroying the entire planet, and that if any of the CPUs tried to get involved, they would conduct an even larger attack that would send the four lands into ruin.

Hours after the broadcast, four more attacks would occur, this time in all four nations.

A cafe in Planeptune.

A Museum in Lastation.

A Library in Lowee.

And the shopping center in Leanbox.

With five major attacks in one day, fear and in some cases, panic had swept through the four lands, as many people were worried about when the next attack will happen and where. Certain groups were already starting to rally up in search for the boy of which 'Die Walkure' was after, just so they could end the madness already, and other simply stayed in their houses, worried that if they step out, they may become another statistic.

In a strange room that was made up of an assortment of lights and holograms in the Planeptune Basilicom were five women, currently having a meeting in regards to what had been happening. Three of the five women were not actually there and was simply being projected through a holographic interface.

A red eyed woman with long light green hair with a black and green ribbon tying a portion of it into a ponytail in the back── Hakozaki Chika: Oracle of Leanbox.

A tall, blue-eyed woman with long sky blue hair worn in low pigtails along with a red graduate hat── Nishizawa Mina: Oracle of Lowee.

A Tomboyish woman with short silver hair, blue eyes and wearing a suit── Jingunji Kei: Oracle of Lastation.

A tiny blonde girl sitting on a floating book, wearing a purple dress──Histoire: Oracle of Planeptune.

And Aurelia A. Cromwell: representative of the real Die Walkure.

"I am sure you know why I assembled you all here, correct? Now do you understand the true nature and severity of the threat your nations face?"

"Unbelievable... to think that another world is actually waging war on us."

Jingunji Kei spoke in somewhat disbelief in response to Aurelia's question. Each of the Oracles were asked by Aurelia to meet in secret, so that the CPUs or anyone else did not get involved any further. There, she had more or less explained the general situation to them, revealing the existence of the G.H.Q and their activity in their world.

"I did not believe it at first..." started Histoire. "...but after what miss Aurelia has shown me, I am afraid that this is indeed the truth."

"So they intend to raze us to the ground because they think we're a threat to their world? What nonsense!"

"But why would they believe such a thing?" Nishizawa Mina asked, taking note of Hakozaki's frustration. "Gamindustri has been at peace for several thousand years, there is no way that we could pose a threat to anyone."

"T'is the grand lie that the rabble within G.H.Q has been told. In reality, their operations in this world has been entirely dedicated to finding the Gem of Sephira, and to weaken the four lands in the event you became a threat to their plans." Aurelia explained. "So in short, they see you more as a hindrance to their true goals rather than a actual threat to their world."

"But what do they want with this... gem of Sephira thing? Is it really that valuable?"

Aurelia shook her head in response to Kei's question.

"All truth told, we simply have no idea why they are after it. All we know from our spies within the G.H.Q is that someone very high up the chain of command has had an interest in it for some years now. I would think that this person simply wants the power all to him or herself."

"I do hope you'll forgive me for being skeptical, but what makes you so sure we can trust you?" Chika asked with a studying gaze. "How do we know you aren't with those madmen who are bombing our cities and is merely trying to confuse us?"

It was a fair question, since she had randomly appeared and had the answers to everything that was going on. In spite of this however, Aurelia simply smiled.

"If I was truly aligned with those cretins, I would not risk coming here to tell you anything. I would simply remain hidden as your world burned... but to be quite frank though, after using the name of the great founder in the way they did, I simply could not let this slide."

Nishizawa Mina frowned a bit at her words.

"So why have you told us about this anyway? From what I understand, you are breaking your non-involvement rule..."

"Yes, this is quite the risk I am taking myself. But worry not about that. As for why I have give you this information is relatively simple. Do not get the goddesses involved in this matter."

When she said that, the four others in the room had raised their eyebrows in bewilderment.

The first to speak up was Hakozaki Chika.

"I hope you don't mind my asking, but do you really intend for us to let those madmen do as they please to our cities? I mean, ideally I would prefer if my dear sister not get involved in such dangerous things but still..."

"All I ask is that you maintain the veil of secrecy that has been upheld for ages. No one outside of this room can know of what is going on."

Aurelia readily responded, clarifying her intentions.

"So, just have us cover up the messes caused by the situation and let you Die Walkure people handle it?"

"Precisely," She nodded, answering Kei's question. "This whole problem is a result of an everlasting conflict that's happening on earth, and from this, you have been dragged into it. This is our issue, so there is no need for outsiders to get involved."

"I understand... I will do my best to try and convince Blanc to not go after these people and to help in covering up anything related to this."

The Holographic image of Nishizawa Mina nodded before ending its transmission.

"Well, we cannot leave the Basilicom anyway due to the chemical delivery mix-up... but I we will do our best over here."

Having said that, Hakozaki Chika's transmission was ended as well.

"I got it. We in Lastation will do our best on our end too. Don't worry about any information getting leaked."

Jingunji Kei's transmission ended as well.

Even though they each had their own individual gripes and opinions about the issue, they all understood more or less the gravity of the situation.

If the goddesses all decided to leap into action, the G.H.Q would also respond to that, leading to a disastrous outcome.

They were also somewhat suspicious of Aurelia's appearance and what she told them, but if they wanted an outcome where the four lands could survive the secret war, they had no choice but to believe her for the time being.

Alone in that room, only two remained...

And Histoire asked a question.

"Are you certain about us leaving this in your hands? I seem to recall that man warning against third parties like yourself from interfering as well..."

"We already have operatives down here looking for the Jaeger and his position. In due time, this hunt of his will come to an end."

Aurelia said so with a thin smile on her face. The tome could not discern the meaning behind such an expression, but Aurelia spoke again before she could ask more.

" ** _I only pray that he has a strong enough will to endure whatever I have planned for him when he is captured."_**

※※※※※

Underneath a tree in the backyard of a certain cabin, laid Tsukamoto Shizuki. It was around the time where he would usually be training with a certain black swordsman for some hours, however, it was one of those days that had been decided where they would take the day off from training. That being said, this was a day of leisure for him. However, he was not sitting in that spot because he was relaxing.

He was staring up at the sky which had started to become cloudy with a blank expression. if one had been looking from a closer distance, they could see that his eyes looked tired, and this assessment was true. Truth be told, he had not gotten that much sleep the previous night. Even though he was still tired, he could not sleep still.

That was because something on his mind wasn't letting him sleep.

 ** _"_ ── _And to Tsukamoto Shizuki, I say this: If you do not want the people of this place to suffer any more, surrender yourself to us."_**

The world he thought he wanted to remain in had been turned against him. An organization from earth had orchestrated a terror attack and were conducting more, just so they could get at him.

Because he had something they wanted.

The Gem of Sephira.

 _("It's always the same... these stupid powers of mine have always caused me problems. No matter what... I just can't escape it.")_

In the past, he ostracized from the people around him because of an incident that caused one of his abilities to surface. Now however, not that many people had seen it, but because of the knowledge of its origin, he was now ostracized once again, this time on an even bigger scale than before.

people were dying, people were in some kind of despair, and people were in fear because of him. As long as he remained, this would continue. People would continue to get hurt if he did not hand himself over to the Jaeger.

 _("I thought that by choosing to remain here, I would be escaping that hollow life I lived back home and start over from zero... I can see now that that was just a stupid delusion of mine. I should've known this from the beginning... I don't belong here. The longer I stay here, the more problems I'll cause for everyone...")_

It had become clear what he must do. The peaceful world of which a certain pair had fought for was becoming enveloped by the problems brought about from his world. He felt that it was unfair for the darkness of the world he came from was trying to stuff out the light of the world he was getting used to because he had something he never even asked for or even desired. If it all began with him, surely it would end with him.

He stood up from underneath the tree and started to head back over to the house. Most likely, this would be the last time he would ever rest in that spot, so he stopped to take a good look at it before continuing on.

Once he made it to the porch, something he saw caused him to stop in his tracks again. Sitting on that swing was a certain girl whom Tsukamoto had gotten close to during his time here, this time looking as though she was sleeping for real.

He was beginning to feel tempted to tickle her nose again with a feather just like before, but restrained himself. She just looked very peaceful and didn't want to disturb her at the moment.

At some point, she had curled up and rested her head on her arms. The weather had begun to chill as the sun was completely shrouded by the grey clouds above, appearing as though it would rain at any moment. She looked comfortable and unaffected by the chilly wind, but he didn't want her to catch a cold, so he took off his jacket and gently draped it over her shoulders. Compa had seemed to notice the new warmth added to her shoulders, as she smiled a bit in her sleep as her hands gently gripped onto the jacket.

 _("Compa-san has done so much for me in these past several days... and yet, I haven't done anything to repay her in return.")_

An odd pressure welled up in his chest and Shizuki solemnly smiled as he thought that.

 _("The last thing I want is for something to happen to her because of me... I... I can't let that happen. What kind of friend would I be if I let her and the home she holds dearly get destroyed?")_

To Shizuki, she was the first person in quite some time who he could safely call his friend. As such, he could not bring himself to let her fall into harm's way, be it from the G.H.Q, or the people who may have been frantically looking for him in order to end the nightmare once and for all. He had hoped that he could enjoy the time he had with Compa and the others, but inevitably, the wheels of fate were not so kind.

She had lost the building she lived in because of him.

She and IF had almost died because of him.

The world she and all of the other innocents lived in was being threatened with violence and destruction.

He wouldn't have been surprised if she secretly resented him for the trouble he's caused for them, but in the end, he did not care about that. He just didn't want to cause her and the others any more trouble. If it meant throwing aside his own happiness, he could not complain.

After stepping into the house for a brief moment, Tsukamoto came back outside and placed a small note beside Compa who was still sleeping, and turned his back onto the house, walking forward.

He kept walking...

and kept walking, until his figure was enveloped by the trees of the woods around them.

※

About an hour or so had passed. Compa had started to wake up with a light yawn before noticing the the note that Shizuki left behind. After picking up and looking at it carefully, she saw that there were only three words written on the paper.

 _Thanks for everything._

"Huh..?"

She couldn't quite understand what this note was for or who left it there. Something was telling her that she should know what this meant, but it was escaping her still. Wanting answers, she rubbed her eyes, and picked up the piece of paper before heading inside with it. She headed over into the dining room area where Kurosaki Kojiro and IF were.

"Hey.. do you guys know who left this note..? I was asleep outside.."

Kurosaki took a look at the note and slightly shook his head.

"I can't say that I have..."

"I dunno. Haven't seen Shizu in a while though."

IF also shook her head and shrugged a bit at the question, and at the same time, another question came into her head.

"Speaking of which.. where **is** he?"

Compa finally seemed to take notice of the jacket on her shoulders and then she finally realized it.

The note.

The jacket around her.

And a certain boy who was currently nowhere to be seen.

It was then that her heart instantly sank upon realizing the implications of these clues.

"Oh no.."

Kojiro noticed Compa's expression and had eventually reached the same conclusion she had.

"...We have to find him immediately."

"But why would he just up and leave like this?"

"I might know," Said Compa, readily replying to IF's question. "There was a broadcast yesterday, after the news of a bombing at 5pb's concert. Some guy.. saying he was part of a group called Die Walkure demanded he turn himself in or more attacks like the bomb would happen.."

Kojiro's eyes widened slightly when she said that. If what she said was true, then someone within the organization would have violated the non-interference rule which the organization strictly followed when operating off world. In the organization, it was an offense that warranted indefinite imprisonment or in some cases, even termination. Since no one, as far as he knew would be crazy enough to risk such a thing, he came to the conclusion that it was likely a trick fabricated by the enemy in order to draw out Tsukamoto and to paint Die Walkure in a negative light, similarly to how most governments viewed them on earth.

But he still had to ask to make sure.

"...What did this person look like?"

"I don't know.. he wore a hood, all you could see is red eyes.."

His fear was confirmed. That vague description could only belong to one of G.H.Q's most deadly operatives, and he would know, since Kurosaki himself had fought him off several days ago. But the shocking part was how brazen G.H.Q was starting to become with their actions. Blowing up an apartment building was one thing, but resorting to terrorist attacks and appearing on television had gone above and beyond his expectations.

"We have to find him now," Started IF who quickly picked up on the severity of the situation. "Compa, when was the last time you saw him?"

"I haven't.. like I said, I was asleep outside. I think he was out there too though since he left his coat with me."

"I see.. let's split up. If he left just recently, he couldn't have gotten very far."

"Where do we look though..?"

"There is a town about 7 miles east from here." replied Kurosaki. "He may have gone there... or he could still be wondering in these woods somewhere."

"I'll check the town, I can ask around."

"Very well, in the mean time, me and IF can check the surrounding woods."

 **"Right..!"**

And so the three parted ways to their respective destinations in order to find their missing comrade. As it stood, the world had became dangerous for that person and an unfavorable fate would await him if anyone else found him before they could.

That danger had also extended to themselves since they were directly involved with him. But that was irrelevant.

For one reason or another, those three would take on a horde of those enemies before abandoning him to his fate.

They only hoped that they could find him before such a confrontation came to pass.

※※※※※

"So this is it, hm?"

"It looks like it... though I wasn't expecting the Jaeger's base to be a plane."

Two individuals spoke to each other as they stood before a large black passenger plane standing in a clearing in a wooded area.

It was the CXD 23215 Airborne Mobile Command Station, also called the Zeypher Wing, which had multiple facilities used by the people who were supposed to be occupying it.

The two individuals was the tall blonde woman named Jasmine Valestein who wore light purple armor and used a long sword as her main weapon, and Darius Karlstein, a young man with white hair and blue eyes, only this time, his entire body was covered from head to toe in heavy azure armor, which gave him a more imposing presence than he normally would have without it.

Because of the public broadcast the Jaeger made to all of Gamindustri the previous night, as well as his turning G.H.Q D-Class personnel into suicide bombers via the Extremis serum, the pair was once again ordered into action, only this time, they were to take him down and secure any vials of extremis they could find.

Darius used the HUD in his suit to see into the thermal visual spectrum, only to find no heat signatures that resembled a human.

"No one seems to be here at the moment... you would think that he would have those D-Class serve as guards for his base."

"If you read the file on the Jaeger, you should understand from his activities that he loathes people with insidious backgrounds. Trusting them to protect his base would be the last thing he would do." Said Valestein as she scanned her surroundings for any hidden snipers or weapons. "I would suspect that he has laid in traps or some automated weapon to act as his base's defense."

"It's strange though. His base is just sitting there out in the open as if he wanted us to find it. Even the plane's hanger door is open."

"If he is inviting us in, I say we accept his invitation."

Without hesitation, the blonde warrior headed inside the plane, causing Darius to silently sigh. Because of a certain number of circumstances, too great to get into at the moment, Jasmine had her body experimented on and developed super human physical capabilities. As a result she could run ten times faster than the fastest human on earth at her top speed, and her kicks were hard enough to send small vehicles sliding back a few meters. Not to mention that her body was durable to the point where bullets simply bruised her skin.

Because of her nature as an enhanced one, she had gained a habit of being somewhat careless in certain scenarios, such as charging into dangerous territory without much caution at all and taking on strong adversaries by herself. Despite her being stronger than the average human her age, she was still mortal to some extent. Karlstein wished that she would take that into consideration out in the field.

When the pair boarded the plane, they continued to look around in the rooms onboard, only to find them completely deserted and some equipment missing. Darius stepped into a room that looked like some kind of place for storage.

On the ground were at least five vials of Extremis serum that had been left behind for some reason. Either they were in a hurry lo leave and ended up dropping them on the way out, or they were simply deemed unimportant and left behind. Either way, Karlstein used the scanners within his suit's helmet to check the substance to make sure it was what he came there for and received a result within seconds.

"Confirmed. This is definitely the substance."

"Be careful with those Darius. Mishandle those and this place could burst into flames."

Jasmine stated while she was looking around another room nearby.

"I don't think we need to worry about that," Responded Darius as he knelt down to pick up the vial. "The substance itself isn't explosive when it's like this. It only ends up like that when it's injected into a living organism. Not to mention that its explosive side affects only happens when the body rejects the ── "

Darius stopped speaking for a moment after taking a further look around on the floor. Among the vials dropped, there was one that was totally empty. He initially assumed that an empty vial had been disposed of and left here after a D-Class had taken it and left, but that did not make sense.

It seemed as though the D-Class responsible for the attacks in Gamindustri had taken them moments before the explosion, but for some reason an empty vial was left behind. Since the risk of an explosion was high due to the unpredictable nature of the serum, taking it before heading out did not make much sense.

And then he saw it.

"Hghh..."

Darius looked to see a middle aged man in an orange jumpsuit leaning up against the wall of the back of the room, groaning as though he was in some kind of pain.

Darius switched to thermal imaging and saw that the man's body tempeture had exceeded the highest a human body was supposed to give off. He looked just a bit behind the man and could see that the wall he was leaning up against was starting to become heated in some places.

"What is it Darius?"

The blonde asked, noticing that he stopped mid-sentence. She entered the room to figure out what the problem was, but she saw it as well.

"It looks like he's taken the serum..."

"No shit I did..."

The middle aged man spat out as he placed his hand over his chest, breathing heavily. Jasmine simply walked further in the room and stopped in front of him before kneeling over to the man.

"Where is your leader?"

"That guy? He's no leader... he's a damn demon from hell."

Valestein narrowed her eyes a bit before continuing. "I'll not repeat myself again. Where is the Jaeger?"

"I have no clue..! That guy just packed up his shit and left! Said something about finding a new base of operations somewhere... I don't know."

The man's voice sounded agitated and pained as he blurted out his words. Darius stepped forward and asked a question of his own.

"Why did you take the serum? Were you planning to ambush us when we arrived here?"

"You really think I could take on freaks like you, even with this shit injected in me?" said the man. "No... I'm just a disposable piece of shit to them. I'm not a soldier they would count on to stop you from raiding this place. They don't need folks like me fight you."

"?"

"That stuff was injected into me over an hour ago... while I should have died sooner than that, they injected some kind of... nanoprobe thing that controls that stuff. Meaning, they can **control when I go up in blazes**."

They both gained a bad feeling in their bodies when they realized what he was telling them.

The G.H.Q had implanted something into their bodies that somehow manipulated the chaotic effects of Extremis. Meaning that the entire plane could be destroyed at any time.

While they started to process this information, the man continued.

"That guy probably knows you're already here is going to set me and the others off any minute now."

"What others?" asked Jasmine.

"There's five more guys locked in The Box with the same shit injected into me... they'll be detonated along with me to blow this whole place up... I'd run if I were you two."

Just as he said that, the man's body started to give off a dangerous heat. It was so hot, it felt as though the room was on fire.

Immediately sensing the danger, Valestein turned over to Darius and said, "We need to leave this place now. Do you have the serum vials?"

"Yes, I got them."

"Good, this will do. Let's escape."

As the man continued to blaze as though he was a miniature version of the sun itself, The Blonde Devil and the War Knight quickly exited the room and ran down the passenger space. When they left through the hanger doors, the two's speed significantly increased as they ran away from the clearing within less than a minute. While Jasmine's body was physically superhuman, Darius was not. However, when wearing the armored suit known as the War Knight, his strength and speed was greatly augmented and it allowed him to keep up with adversaries who were on a superhuman level.

Behind them, an intense heat was felt as the Zepher Wing had exploded into a mass of flames that expanded for well over 3 miles. Once the explosion subsided, all that remained was a dark patch along with small flames spreading throughout the forest, and seemingly no trace of the plane itself.

"So in the end, we found that he changed his location but could not find anything more than that... how disappointing."

As Jasmine muttered that, a faint blue light shone around Darius as his armor suddenly dematerialized, revealing his true appearance.

"But don't forget, we now know how they are controlling the Extremis users."

"Yes, but this doesn't help us." replied Valestein. "As long as that man's location remains unfound, we have no way of stopping those bombings."

"Then we'll keep looking. For now, let's turn these vials in for containment and continue the search."

※※※※※

And so the search had commenced, however, it was not a search for the world's deadliest assassin.

It was a search for a certain boy being pursued by that assassin.

It had been about thirty minutes since those three people had moved out to find that missing person. As agreed, Compa had gone to a nearby town to see if he had gone there, as well as to ask around to see if anyone else had seen him. IF and Kurosaki Kojiro had left to explore the surrounding woods in the event he had wandered in and gotten lost.

So far, neither side had found anything concrete as Compa has not called them and informed them of anything since they left the safehouse, and the pair had not found anything resembling a human being since they stepped foot into the woods.

But as they continued deeper into the forest, they noticed a subtle change in the atmosphere as a faint layer of fog had started to manifest throughout the area. Kurosaki was carefully observing his surroundings in the event that they either saw Tsukamoto Shizuki or were attacked by some wild animal.

"The air feels off.."

IF mumbled, sticking close behind him.

"So you feel it too? Something could be nearby."

"Yeah.. keep your guard up. I don't like this."

He gave a small nod and continued walking through the forest, all while keeping his guard raised. At some point as they pressed on, he thought he caught something moving in his peripheral vision, causing him to turn his head in that direction.

"What is it?"

"I thought I saw something just a moment ago..."

He could feel that someone or something was observing them from a distance somewhere, but he could not determine where. One thing was starting to become clear; Someone was targeting those two in specific, and was likely observing their movements for some time after they entered the forest.

He had a feeling that whoever was watching them wasn't the Jaeger or the G.H.Q themselves, but someone who was connected to them in someway.

And someone who had a nature similar to a Magus.

"Damn it.. why now?"

"Stay vigilant. We are not alone."

However, in that instant, the attack came. A piece of rubble of some kind was suddenly thrown in IF's direction when she wasn't looking from within the trees. Kojiro, having saw it first, unsheathed his sword and sliced the piece of rubble in half, resulting in the two halves to soar past them.

Witnessing this, she was instantly on her guard as she took out her short blades which could be used for both long range and close range combat.

"W..What the hell?!"

Loud footsteps could be heard as a towering figure slowly emerged from the trees. When it eventually appeared, they saw it in its full glory.

The creature was bipedal, standing on its hind legs as well as a human, standing just about twelve feet in height overall. Its general appearance resembled that of a Minotaur from Greek legends, though it had several distinct features. For starters, most of hist skin/fur was jet black, certain areas of its body including its face was white, and its eyes were a dark crimson color. In its hand was an axe-sword that looked as though it was made out from some slab of stone, which was swung around as it let out a bestial roar.

"Tch.. a big one huh? Well this is certainly gonna suck.."

IF grimaced as she looked at the creature. It was beginning to remind her of the Gleam Eyes and the brutal fight which occured in its dungeon. But more than that, it resembled another type of troublesome creature which she also fought not that long ago.

A Grimm.

"There is no way that this attack was merely coincidence. This is a clear ambush."

Kurosaki stated as he readied himself for the creature's advance.

"But why? Is someone trying to prevent us from finding Shizu?"

"Perhaps... it is likely they know he has run off somewhere and sent a force to intercept him and another to intercept us." Kojiro replied while keeping the Grimm Minotaur in his line of sight. "In any case, we have to deal with this creature quickly and find out who is behind this."

"I might have a clue.."

She recalled the Grimm that had been summoned that night. Rosalia and her people had somehow managed to summon an even larger creature in their party's efforts to get at Shizuki and to kill them. With another Grimm appearing before them now, it was not wrong to immediately suspect Rosalia's doing.

And in that instant, the Minotaur once more let out an incomprehensible sound that no human could ever hope to replicate.

"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅――!"

A strange heat began to surge through the Grimm's body as its muscles bulged. The heat was conducted into the weapon it was holding and the Minotaur leapt forward with speeds far surpassing that of any speeding vehicle and charged directly toward the pair.

They split up in two different directions as the blazing axe-sword came down to crush them. After jumping out of its range, Kurosaki used his reinforcement to enhance his arms and legs to keep up with the monster.

He charged forward.

A series of attacks were made as the swung its axe sword with great ferocity, only to be intercepted by the the Black Swordsman's blade, the Konzetsu no Aku. If someone who had a discernible darkness in their hearts was cut by that weapon, the weight of their sins would utterly destroy their souls. Kojiro wondered is his weapon's affect would work on this monster, since this was the first time he crossed blades with a non-human entity with no concept of morals whatsoever.

Each strike moved at speeds that few humans could ever replicate with their strength alone, nor could they perceive. IF pulled out her semi-automatic pistols and opened fire on the Minotaur's back. After getting shot, the creature paused for a moment after pushing Kurosaki away with its axe-sword.

The 'heat' within the Minotaur's body started to close the wounds it had received from the gunshots. In what seemed like primal irritation, it took up its blade and threw it at IF, hurdling towards her at great speeds.

"...!"

Using a short burst of Level Accel, IF jumped back, avoiding the large super heated weapon which had then exploded into flames upon making rough contact with the area she once stood in.

"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅――!"

As if to match its rage, the heat within the Minotaur rose to the point where its body was now on fire. Balls of supercharged heat formed in both of the hands of the creature, shining with similar intensity as the sun and was launched from them shortly afterwards.

A loud noise rang out as the balls impacted the grounds where IF and Kojiro stood, setting that area ablaze. The fragments of flames scattered about and landed on the nearby trees, catching them on fire as well.

If this continued, there would be a major forest fire, which would prove to be fatal for them if they remained there for too long.

The Minotaur bellowed as it charged straight for IF with a flaming fist set to obliterate her upon impact. The target of the attack jumped back a bit while avoiding several more flaming fists that tried to reach her.

"Tch.. we have to take this fight somewhere more open!"

"I know. If the flames spread while we remain here, we will be trapped."

They needed more room in order to properly face that creature. But the problem laid in where they should go. They could not return to the area where the safehouse resided in fear of it being burned and destroyed in the fight as well as the summoner finding out where they were hiding.

There were a lot of clearings in Leanbox, some big and some small. All they had to do was find place where no trees could impede their movements and where nothing could catch fire.

Something began to form in the Minotaur's hand.

It was an axe-sword, only this time, it was made out of flames it was emitting.

The heat intensified on its body as it swung its sword vertically, sending a sea of flames in the pair's direction.

"...!"

Putting more strength into their bodies, they jumped as high as they could to get out of that sea of fire's path. As it continued on, the flames did not simply burn the trees they touched; they were sliced through and incinerated.

Another attack, this time horizontal, came down and sliced through more trees in that direction. Kurosaki and IF decided to not waste anymore time and took off running in hopes of finding an open area to to fight that creature.

The chase began.

After the sounds of an enraged bellow, loud rapid footsteps could be heard as the Minotaur was in hot pursuit of IF and Kojiro, leaving behind a trail of smoldering spots on the ground while it ran at a high speed.

 _("Not good... at this rate, it will catch up.")_

Kojiro was using reinforcement magecraft to enhance his speed and IF was using Level Accel in short bursts, however, it was not enough to outrun that beast. In a straight path, it would eventually catch them within the minute. The trees that were in their path was helping somewhat as an obstacle for the Minotaur, but its flaming sword was slicing through the trees as though they were made out of paper.

They couldn't continue this much longer.

The two continued running some more. At some point, IF took a silver disc shaped object out of her coat and threw it back behind them as they ran, As the Minotaur pursued them, the disc slid under it and emitted a gravitational pull of sorts, stopping the beast in its tracks and pulling it down to the ground.

IF nor Kojiro stopped to see if it had worked. They still kept running at the best speed they could manage at the moment without missing a beat.

"IF, how long will that hold it?"

"Not for long..! But at least it'll put some distance between us and that Grimm!"

The Gravity Discs have held large targets in place for a certain period of time, but that time was finite. In the end, it would eventually get loose of the restraints that was gravity and continue the pursuit.

But while it was pinned, Kurosaki thought about the creature and its abilities for a bit.

 _("That creature's fiery nature seems somewhat familiar... If I did not know any better, I would think that it was using that serum from the ALCHOBATA incident.")_

Kurosaki had not fought anyone that used Extremis nor was he involved in the aforementioned incident, but he was somewhat familiar with the serum and its side effects on the human body based on video footage, images and reports he had looked at sometime in the past.

 _("...I see. So they are now infusing it with monsters which seems to have a better fit for it than humans. But why? Is it to enhance the creature's physical resistance so it would be more of a formidable weapon? Regardless of the purpose for using it on this creature, dealing with it will become a troublesome endeavor. ")_

Just as he thought that, a loud sound rang out.

An explosion, followed by the Minotaur's fierce bellows was heard in the distance, signifying that it broke free of its gravitational restraints. Rapid footsteps and the sounds of trees being sliced down could be heard drawing nearer to them as time went on.

"Damn it, it's on its way again and we still haven't reached a clearing.."

But it seemed as though she spoke too soon.

As they kept running forward, they saw that there was an open space just up ahead beyond the trees and as they got closer, they could see a road of sorts in a large clearing.

When they made it out into that open space, the footsteps was no longer heard, but they did not relax at all. Instead, a mass of flames shot out from the trees and flew in the air, before landing just ten meters in front of IF and Kurosaki. When it landed, it created a small crater and flames spread outward, causing the pair to cover their faces momentarily with their arms.

"..."

The Minotaur let out a low growl as it emitted killing intent from its red eyes. Kojiro and IF raised their weapons as they prepared for another bout with the Grimm.

"...Whatever it is giving it the ability to produce fire is giving it a healing factor, which means chances are, it will regenerate its limbs if we cut them off, and other attacks will be ineffective as well."

"How are we gonna kill this thing then?"

Kojiro glanced over at the creature's chest before answering IF's question.

"Its heart may be vulnerable. If we can land a strike which can destroy it, the monster will fall."

"How are we gonna do that? Its too fast and its healing power is a problem.."

"I have an attack that will cut straight through that and into his heart, but I will need some time to prepare. Could you keep it busy while I do so?"

※※※※

And so the deadly clash had begun.

Within that open clearing with only a lone road, a chaotic battle was commencing. Wielding a large sword made of flames was a Grimm that took on the form of a twelve foot tall Minotaur, being enhanced by a serum called Extremis.

That sword of fire was swinging around the place as though it were a toy of some kind; a toy which brought about destruction to the area around it.

Avoiding those deadly strikes was IF, a girl who was currently wielding two long blades currently coated in ice in order to combat those deadly flames.

The girl in blue was moving about the field in fast motions while simultaniously repelling that sword of fire, but while in the process of doing so, that blade was scorching up the surface around them, and anything caught in its path would be turned to ash. IF had to be careful and keep up with the Minotaur's speed or else, it would all be over.

After a good number of clashes and evasions, IF jumped up into the air and through the blade of ice at the creature, hitting it in its leg.

And at that point, the blade of ice exploded, trapping most of its body inside a case of ice. The arm that held that sword was trapped, but that would not last for long.

Because of its body currently generating up to several thousand degrees Celsius, that case of ice would not hold it for long. Within seconds, it will melt itself free and continue its attack.

But it didn't even wait for that.

Its body was trapped, but its head was still free. As such the head moved with no problems as it bellowed out, shooting a large stream of fire from its mouth.

"...!"

IF quickly moved out of its path and started to run across the scorched field in order to get out of its path.

 _("All I need to do is hold it in place so Kojiro can land the final hit..I don't need to do anything more than that.")_

Her objective was never to kill it off herself.

She just needed to distract it so it would not pay any attention to Kurosaki Kojiro, who had an attack that would destroy the Minotaur's heart.

A crack was heard for a brief moment before the sounds of something shattering rang out, followed by the feel of scorching heat.

The Minotaur broke its containment and bellowed loudly. Its flame sword was gone, but in its place were two balls of fire in both its hands which was thrown at IF in the next instant.

As she evaded, more and more fire balls were manifested and thrown at a continuous rate, further ruining that clearing with burn marks and craters.

After its barrage of fire balls ended, it bellowed and started to repeatedly strike the ground with its fists. IF wondered what it was trying to do, but before long, she would get her answer.

A large piece of the ground was currently in the hands of the Minotaur before it and its body was super charged with heat.

 _("Don't tell me..!")_

Before she could react, the Minotaur took a massive leap, about fifteen or less meters into the air and raised that flaming piece of rubble over head. It then proceeded to launch the rubble from its hands with a strong throw and the object turned into a small flaming meteor that was aiming for the obliteration of its target.

"...!"

She used Level Accel to get out of the impact range. Right after she did, a tremendous explosion rang out as the landscape was thoroughly ruined by that flaming object. When IF tried to jump up, the shock wave slammed into her like a tidal wave and caused her to be knocked onto the ground.

"Ah..! Crap.."

"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅――!"

The creature's bellowing was heard from above. After the rubble had failed to obliterate her in impact, the Minotaur itself was falling towards her at high speeds with a sword of flames. To respond to the incoming threat, IF forced herself to her feet again, deployed two long swords, coated them with ice, and crossed them together to intercept that burning sword.

"Kg..gh..!"

The ground beneath her feet was turned into a small crater when that giant slammed into her blades.

This was the worst situation she could have gotten herself in.

For this battle, it had been IF's role to hold that monster in place and distract it, but at some point down the road, she was the one who ended up being held in place.

The muscles and joints within IF's arms were aching, not just from the pressure of the Flame sword, but from using her ability in those times.

If a certain pinkette was with them, there would be little problem at all. After all, she also had an ability which regenerated the damage caused by IF's ability, and in turn, the energy from IF's power would enhance hers, effectively balancing the two out and allowing for prolonged use at the same time.

But like with the fight with Rosalia (Arfoire), Compa was not around to use her power, forcing IF to only use it in short bursts. However, even that was starting to wear at her a little bit since she had used it multiple times and for a bit longer than fifteen seconds.

She didn't want a repeat of what happened that other night, where she was on the verge of dying and wasn't counting on whatever force that appeared that time to restore her back to full health.

"Hg...ghh..!"

※

And standing just several meters away, Kurosaki Kojiro watched on as the Minotaur was engaging IF, however, it looked like she was the one on the ropes as she was currently being pinned underneath that flaming mass which looked like a sword.

"I suppose it is time for me to act."

As he said that, the Japanese sword began to glow a dark red color. He then stared at it for a few brief seconds before turning his attention back to the conflict before him.

 _("The prana consumed from the blood of the operatives I killed should still be present. All I need to do is get in closer and then the attack will handle the rest.")_

The air around him had begun to distort.

He slowly approached from behind the creature while it was focusing on the girl in blue. At some point, she dropped onto her knee while she tried her best to keep that blade of fire from destroying her.

After making it about nine meters closer to the beast, he got himself into position.

He raised his sword up in a vertical position and a chill ran through the air. The magical energy around him rumbled in a whirlpool, centered on the _Konzetsu no Aku._

The Minotaur somehow seemed to notice this change in the air as it automatically switched gears and focused on Kurosaki, raising his sword and turning away from IF.

"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅――!"

"Prepare yourself creature. That heart of yours will be eradicated by the darkness of others!"

The Black swordsman moved.

Using reinforcement, he appeared in front of that monster almost instantly as if he had teleported, and then...

He thrust the blade at the monster's feet.

To anyone who knew of sword combat, or better yet, to even the most inept novices in the art, this was a terrible move. With a sword of its current length, it would be very ineffective to aim that low and attack an enemy from there. IF was at first confused with the action since he was competently skilled with his weapon, so such a move caught even her off guard since it made no sense whatsoever.

And then...

"Evil Reversal────"

As though those words themselves were charged with power...

"────Blood Drinking Sword of Instant Destruction!"

The sword thrust at the Minotaur's feet rushes toward the creature's heart.

"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅――!"

The monster bellowed as it raised its flame sword as an attempt to block the strike from piercing into its heart as it was meant to. That should have halted the sword's advance, however, in that same instance, the sword had somehow bypassed the Grimm's and dug into its heart anyway. The red beam which had been that sword, pierced straight through the skin and out the other side on its back.

At that moment, the Minotaur stopped.

A low rumble escaped its throat as the heat in its body started to simmer down significantly, and following that...

That creature dropped to its knees, fell to the ground, and began to wither away into a black mist.

The battle was over.

"..."

While Kurosaki sheathed his weapon, IF blankly stared at him. During that exchange she was sure that she saw the attack get blocked by the flame sword, and yet Kojiro's attack had landed anyway.

Not to mention the angle of which he thrust it was odd. It was aimed at its feet, but had suddenly changing its course, moved in an impossible direction, and pierced the creature's heart.

And yet the sword had not changed size or became bent in anyway. It looked so natural, that it made her think the sword had already pierced its chest before the attack even occured.

But by all means, that attack shouldn't have been possible.

So how?

"Evil Reversal: The Blood Drinking Sword of Instant Destruction."

Kojiro repeated the name of the technique he had just used before explaining further.

"It is activated by taking the blood of three enemies, which is obtained by fatally striking them. Afterwards, the sword automatically absorbs the mana contained inside the blood and convert it into prana, allowing it to manifest a powerful torrent of energy. In essence, it reverses the nature of causality, the meaning of "cause and effect" in the order of things, to make it so the cause of the attack comes from the effect of the "target being struck" by it. It determines the opponent's fate simply through its use, an always fatal move that strikes target with one thrust. "

"Wow.."

"And I can do this with any target. All I need to do is to assign something for which it should destroy and it will carry out that destruction. In this case, that creature's heart."

Kurosaki's attack was indeed blocked by the Minotaur's sword of flames, however, upon it happening, the event had corrected itself so that the attack would reach its target.

It was not something as simple as the attack punching through the sword or evading the obstacle. The moment that attack was unleashed, the weapon was already inside its heart. The obstacle that was the fire sword blocked its onslaught, but the event was corrected because **it was already decided from the beginning that the cause of the 'thrust' would carry the result of ''Absolute Destruction of the Target'' as a premise.**

It didn't matter if the creature had blocked the attack or evaded it somehow, as long as there was a result of that blade piercing its heart, the course of the sword was simply added later to prove that fact.

This was the trump card that the Black Swordsman can only use, only that once the prana was used up, he could not use it again unless he obtained blood from his enemies which it consumed mana from.

"I see.. that's pretty impressive."

"It has saved my life many times before whenever I was in a precarious situation, and so far I am pleased to see that hasn't changed."

Kojiro remarked with a small smile. After a certain argument from the previous night, he made it an effort to get back the expressive functions as a human he lost. While keeping that in mind while at the same time keeping his gears focused on the situation at hand, he continued again.

"Anyway, it seems as though the creature's summoner has not shown themselves. We should return to our search and move quickly in the event someone else is currently pursuing Shizuki."

"Yeah I agree.. I'm kind of worried about him too."

Nodding in agreement, the two decided to continue their original objective with haste. Someone was clearly targeting them and they could not tell if this was just to distract them from something else, or if this was some attempt on their lives. regardless of the intent, it became more imperative to find Tsukamoto Shizuki before someone else did.

But just as they were preparing to head off, they felt a strange movement under their feet.

"...?"

The vibrations started to grow in intensity while sounds of what appeared to be a stampede of some sort grew louder.

And then it happened.

"...!"

To call it a horde would be a grand understatement. The most accurate description would be to call it a sea of black and white, rushing in from the trees around them. Only two sides of the clearing was nothing but trees and woods, and this sea' came in from both sides and began to swarm them.

Tens of Grimm.

Hundreds of Grimm.

Thousands of Grimm.

All of them varying in shape, size and type. each of them resembled some kind of animal, both existing, prehistoric, and even alien in nature, came pouring out from the trees and surrounded the pair. It was like the clearing had suddenly turned into a massive arena where the entirety of the audience was made up of Grimm.

"Are.. you.. kidding.. me..?"

IF was a bit unnerved by the rate of which these creatures surrounded them and just how many was there. Kojiro took out his sword again and assumed a combative posture, but did not attack.

So far, all of the Grimm that was there was not engaging them either. It was likely that their summoner had commanded them to not attack them, but to merely trap them.

There was no way out.

They could not escape that prison.

Countless roars, screeches, bellows and hissing assaulted their ears while the pair stood close to each other, their backs pretty much touching at this point.

And then a figure had appeared amongst that demonic crowd.

It was human in appearance and IF automatically recognized it when she saw them.

"Y..You?!"

※※※※

 _In a town somewhere nearby..._

A man called Aki was currently stopped at the side walk by something that caught his notice.

He was a man who looked like a university student and had no features that made him stand out from the general populace. Unlike others, he was not a person who could join much more capable people in battles and take on some dangerous monster in a dark cave somewhere. That simply was not the life he could live.

He was a bit of a nomad when it came to living situations. In truth, he had no real home so to speak, and was constantly moving from different hotels to the houses of his friends. It wasn't as though he was eventually kicked of those residences, he was a restless person that always had to move to one location after another in order to get to places where he worked odd jobs more easily.

He wanted to get his own place eventually and to settle in a place where he could definitively call his home. As such, he would work these off jobs to gain a bit of profit in return. Occasionally, he would head over to the Guild to take on a task which had a price on it, provided it did not involve dangerous tasks. he was often called a good submaritain for his contributions and efforts, though he was really only concerned about his own situation. Everything else was merely an afterthought.

One day, he had gone to the Guild Office to take on a task which currently had a considerable price on it. At the time, there was another task in which involved killing a dangerous creature with the highest price so far. Aki obviously didn't go for that one, no matter how tempting the price was. He was not desperate to the point where he would jump straight into a cave of death.

However, while he was there, an uncomfortable air had risen as a group of people had gotten into some kind of tense confrontation. A large group of them seemed to give off a dangerous vibe to them, but the other three looked as though they were a few years younger than he was and though they did not come off as menacing in anyway, he felt as though that group was capable in some way.

He recognized two of them from that instance.

The first one was a highschool boy with blue hair, who had been featured in that eerie broadcast with someone demanding that he be brought to them in exchange for a halt to the terror attacks and a hefty reward for their efforts in finding him.

The second one was a girl with a light pink hair color and though she seemed like a nice person, she came off a bit of an airhead at times.

It just so happened that while he was walking back to his hotel, he caught sight of that girl, going around and asking random people something.

It was then that a thought crossed his head.

The blue haired boy was not with her, nor were those other people from the guild office, but she was definitely connected to that boy.

He was aware of the reward that came with his capture...

And though he felt bad for what he was about to do, he needed the money.

Aki pulled out his cell phone and started to dial a certain number.

"Hello? Yes, about that kid you're looking for..."

※

For some time since she arrived in that town, Compa had been going around asking people at random if they had seen Shizuki anywhere nearby. Since people were already after him, she did not give them his name and had only given them a vague description of his appearance.

However, during that time, she had been given zero results on her search. The people she asked had not seen anyone matching his description entering or leaving the town, and since Kurosaki Kojiro and IF had not called her either, it meant that they had not found anything either.

Compa let out a light sigh. Since it had been almost an hour at this point and they still hadn't found him, she was growing more worried for his safety as the minutes passed on.

"Hey! Excuse me miss!"

Before her thoughts and worried could go into an even darker direction, her attention was caught by the university aged man who was frantically running over to her.

"Huh..? Did you need something sir?"

"Yes..." Started the man while trying to catch his breath. "You see, while me and my wife were hiking in the nearby forests, her water broke and she's going into labor... she can't move right now and there are no hospitals near by... you're a nurse right? Please help!"

The man pleaded while he bowed his had. His tone sounded quite desperate.

"Ah.. um.."

She was a bit hesitant. She really had to find Shizuki as soon as possible as the chances of his survival was gradually decreasing every minute he wasn't found, but if there was someone that really did need help, then it wasn't something she could just ignore.

"..Okay."

"Thank you very much! It may seem like a long trek, but please, follow me."

The man bowed his head in thanks again and started lead her down a road which took them out of the town. Compa remained hesitant as she followed the man, though did her best not to seem nervous.

The road had taken them about seven or so miles out the town, leading through some forested area. Eventually, they stepped off the trail and started to head left, heading up to what looked like an old castle or mansion built years, or possibly even centuries ago, and was currently in a state of disrepair.

"Ah, It's just in here."

He pushed open the two doors of the front entrance which opened up to a large hall of sorts. But... the place was empty. The decor inside looked like it was a place built for an aristocrat or a lord of some kind, with a red carpet leading down a large flight of stairs which no doubt lead to other parts of the building. Though the decor was decorative, it was also old and in a state of disrepair.

"It's huge in here, kinda dark. Are you sure she's here mister..?"

"Aha, well, you see, I'm terribly sorry about this but..."

The man chuckled nervously while rubbing the back of his head, averting his gaze somewhat. Compa thought his behavior was somewhat odd and suspicious, but what happened next surprised her.

Suddenly, the doors they just went through suddenly slammed shut on their own, causing her to jump in surprise from the sudden occurrence.

"Huh..!?"

And following that, foot steps could be heard from a dark corner of the room as a pair of red eyes became visible. When the figure finally emerged, a man in a dark hooded cloak and a metallic skull mask with said red eyes became visible.

"We would be honored... if you would join us."

It was at this point a bad feeling had run through her body as she recognized the man before her that stepped out from the darkness of the room.

"You..! You're the one from the news the other day.. the one who demanded Shizu-kun.."

"Yes, that's right. We will require your assistance for a bit, so do not even bother resisting."

※※※※※

The one person who was at the center of the chaos going on, was stopped at a road somewhere.

There was no obstacle that was blocking his path, nor did something catch his attention that it warranted him to stop in his tracks.

Tsukamoto Shizuki could no longer continue on the path.

There was a simple reason for this.

 _("What am I doing...?")_

He asked himself that simple question while he stood there not moving.

 _("I know this whole mess is happening because of me, and I know that if I remain here, everything will spiral even more downhill from here, but... is this really the right call?")_

Since he had been walking for just about an hour, he had plenty of time to think over the situation. He had left the safe house because he felt that by staying there Gamindustri would eventually collapse from the continuing attacks. And along with that, Compa, IF and Kojiro would get caught in the crossfire of it all because they would definitely try to protect him from the G.H.Q or bare their fangs at their own people to do so.

He didn't want them to become another target to the G.H.Q's fangs, and he did not want them to turn against their people in order to protect him. No matter how he looked at it, it all felt wrong.

It was even starting to feel wrong for him to be in that world in the first place. He wanted to escape a hollow life he lived on earth, but not at the expense of another world's peace and stability. If he knew that things would have turned out like this, he would have reconsidered his initial wish when he was being beaten by those delinquents that one night.

 _("Damn it, I know... I know that my being here is wrong! But... it just doesn't feel right to just leave them like this. Ever since I arrived here, they stuck by me without question, fought along side me, and we even laughed together sometimes! Though our time was short, our connections grew and strengthened to the point of it becoming an honest friendship! Would it really be right for me to just toss that all away, because some people were hounding me...?")_

He thought about the young man who was assigned to protect him.

He thought about the girl who went toe-to toe with a blue demon that threatened his life.

He thought about the girl who had been there from the very beginning and who had wanted to become someone he could rely on.

He had no guarantee that he would even even be alive if he turned himself over to the G.H.Q, and it was that uncertainty was eating away at him. If he had suddenly up and vanished without no one but his captors knowing what really happened to him, they would start to assume the worst after a certain time had passed.

Kurosaki Kojiro, though he would suppress his emotions, there was no doubt that he would feel some pain of having failed his mission and lost a person who he could have called a friend.

IF would become frustrated at the situation, but underneath that would be some form of grief of the failure of saving her friend.

And Compa...

He couldn't picture it. He couldn't bring himself to picture it. For whatever reason, a slight pain would enter his chest whenever he saw her cry or pictured her crying. It was something that was just too painful for him to think about. One of the last things he ever wanted was for her suffer like that.

 _("And the G.H.Q... even if I did decide to hand over that gem to them, how do I know that will be that? How would I know if they'll stop the attacks and leave everyone alone? It's possible that they'll just continue doing the same stuff they've been doing up til now, and they might even use the gem to cause some serious damage. If I take that into consideration, turning myself in may not really be the best idea for the long term...")_

The Gem of Sephira was an artifact that contained a rare form of energy called Telesma.

That power in its uncontained form was said to be able to wipe out the entire planet. Clearly, it was something that shouldn't be tampered with by mortal hands.

And yet for some reason the G.H.Q were looking for it.

If they really intended to use it as some kind of weapon, then he could not just give it to them, especially if they intend to point that weapon at Gamindustri, who had no part in the secret war between the G.H.Q and Die Walkure.

And so he was at a crossroads.

It hurt him to think about the what if scenario of Gamindustri going up in flames and the people he had forged connections with meeting a horrible fate, but at the same time, it pained him even more to imagine the faces of those people when they never heard from him again or if they found his corpse somewhere.

He was unsure of which direction he should take.

The path where he remained with those people, but at the expense of a horrible future awaiting this world, or the path which he himself would likely never return from, sending those people into despair along with the possibility of that horrible future still happening regardless.

"What should I do...?"

Just when he asked that out loud, he felt something vibrating in his pocket.

It was his phone.

He took out the mobile device from his pocket and turned it on, seeing that the caller ID belonged to Compa. He assumed that she had just now remembered that he brought his phone with him and decided to call him. There was no doubt that she and the others were probably looking for him right now.

Since he had his phone off, they could not use the GPS tracking feature, so they had set out to find him the old fashioned way.

He was hesitant to answer the phone, mainly because he didn't really know what to say to her when he did. But he eventually pulled himself together and answered.

But before he could say anything, a voice spoke through...

And it chilled him to his very core.

"Tsukamoto Shizuki."

"...!"

His heart felt like it had frozen over when he heard that familiar yet disturbing voice.

He knew it all too well.

The man that was responsible for the series of events that had been occurring throughout the past week or two.

The man who had appeared on the television of every person in Gamindustri.

And with that filtered voice came the image of a hooded man in dark robes and a skull mask.

His lips quivered as he tried to get out a response while trying to make sense of this occurrence.

"W..Who is this..?"

"You know full well who I am. I'm sure you saw me on a television last night."

"..."

"I am going to keep this short so pay attention." The Jaeger started. "You are wondering why I am contacting you through the caller ID of your friend, correct? It's simple... she is currently my prisoner."

"She... what?"

A great pain was felt in his gut as he revealed that information. He didn't notice it, but his hands were shaking a bit and a cold sweat was beginning to form on his body.

"You heard me. I have her as my prisoner, and **I am going to kill her soon.** "

"..!"

His body immediately tensed up after he said that. Many emotions was currently flowing through him at the moment as he fumbled his words to respond.

"No... don't..!"

"That can be avoided thankfully. Your phone has some kind of tracking feature doesn't it? Use it, and you will find us. You have one hour to come alone and turn yourself over to me. If you don't, I'll snap her neck."

"How do I..." Tsukamoto chose his words very carefully, but he couldn't suppress the emotions that were building up inside him. "How do I know you'll honor your end of the bargain? How do I know you won't just kill her anyway, or that these attacks you're doing will stop?! How the hell can I be sure all of this crap will end if I just turn myself over to you?!"

"...If that's going to be a no, I will be happy to kill her now and rid myself of unnecessary baggage."

His words caused Tsukamoto to tense up even more and quickly responded.

"No, wait! Fine... I'll head over there right now. But... if you lay one finger on her, I'll──"

"You'll do what?" replied the Jaeger, cutting him off. "You are in no position to make threats. Your friend's life is in my hands. The sooner you arrive, the more her chances of living will be."

"..."

"Remember, you have one hour. Come alone. If you bring anyone else with you, she dies. I'll be expecting you kid."

With that final warning, the call ended.

This was really the worst possible outcome to happen. In his attempt to resolve the situation, he had somehow made everything worse.

Many emotions was currently swirling through him, most of which was a mixture of fear and anger, but ultimately those feelings were connected to one thing that he wanted the most at this moment.

That was Compa's safety.

"Damn it..."

He knew that this was indeed a trap and there was no guarantee that she would even be alive by the time he got there. For all he knew, she could have been dead while they were talking on the phone.

But even so...

He had to go. He had to end this madness once and for all, and he had to find a way to ensure his friend's safety even if the odds were not in his favor at the moment.

"Just hang in there Compa-san... I don't know how I'm going to do it, but I'll find some way to overturn this situation. Somehow, I'll end this goddamn nightmare for good!"

He turned on the tracker in his phone, and started to run in that direction as fast as his legs could carry him.

※※※※※

Inside a room within a certain castle, three people occupied that dark space. Sitting on the floor seiza-style, Compa's hands were currently bound together by some kind of old rope, likely found from somewhere within the building.

Her captive, the Jaeger ended the call he had with a certain youth, but left the phone on. He tossed it to the ground where it did not break or even crack the screen. G-Phones were built in some kind of sturdy material in order to withstand being dropped onto the floor from certain distances. While they were not indestructible, it had been getting increasingly hard for one to easily destroy them.

Along with the Jaeger and Compa was another man named Aki, who was old enough to be a university student, standing there uncomfortably as he listened into the conversation that took place. Because of the content of the discussion, he didn't want any more part of this than it was necessary, so he just wanted to claim his prize and be on his way.

"So uh, I did my part in helping you find your guy... where's my reward?"

"Ah, yes." The Jaeger remarked as though he just remembered something. "Here's your reward."

Soon after, he pulled out a dark object from within his cloak. At first he thought it was going to be some kind of bag containing gold or something, but it was something else completely different.

It was a gun.

"Wha──"

Before Aki could respond, the trigger was pulled and loud sound rang out. A powerful force was blown into his face causing him to drop to the ground. The Jaeger aimed his gun at the fallen man and shot him twice in the head, burning away any chances that guy had of living.

"Ahh..!"

Compa shut her eyes in fear, not wanting to be a witness to a brutal execution, shaking from the terror that had overwhelmed her.

"I know what you must be thinking," The Jaeger spoke without looking at her. "How could I kill a man so easily? Well, to answer that, it really becomes a simple task after the first five victims. Luckily, most of the people I kill are filth that deserves a fate worse than hell itself... and others are just mere collateral. This man was the latter."

"B..But why would you do this?"

She asked with a whimper, still frightened over what had happened moments ago.

"Because, I'm on a mission. To clean up the filth that plagues the world known as crime and terror. Garbage like them continues to ruin the lives of other people, slaughter in the name of faulty ideologies and are simply in it for money. For the past Fourteen years, I've dedicated my life to killing these scum in ways that will likely give you nightmares from watching it."

"But Shizu-kun isn't like that.. so why him?"

"That one..." He spoke in a tone that was like him discussing something he really had no interest in. "I'm not hunting him down because I believe he is a threat. Based on my observations, he is just a normal man who has never seen bloodshed. This hunt has been a tedious task for me, something they should have given to someone else while I remained back in my world to carry out my mission. But, my superiors have ordered me to do this, so regardless, I will carry it out to the best of my ability, even though I think that it is a waste of time for me."

"Then why don't you just refuse? Why haven't you questioned why they would harm an innocent boy..?"

"If I refused them and question them out right, they would kill me, simply because I have been considered one of the most dangerous men alive. It would be inconvenient for me to die for such a reason so I would rather live long enough to carry out my mission without trouble."

The Jaeger was one of their best private operatives when it came to hunting down targets that the organization deemed a threat to national security. However, this collaboration was as dangerous as a double edged sword. With just his skills alone in certain areas, he could cause some serious damage to the G.H.Q if his priorities were to shift against their wishes.

To that end, the G.H.Q implanted some kind of Realizer micro-chip in his brain to keep an eye on his movements. It was said that his brain data was actually being transferred somewhere for some other project, but aside from those two purposes, the chip also had a third function.

Simply put, it was programed in the event that if his thoughts had gone in a direction where he presented a big threat to the G.H.Q and the higher ups, it would incinerate his brain. The Jaeger was aware of this fact and had decided to go along with the G.H.Q's plans even if he did have doubts and gripes about certain issues.

"Besides... the object that kid has is about as dangerous as a nuclear warhead. He already had contact with the **REAL Die Walkure** , so if I fail, those terrorists will get their hands on it."

"How is it dangerous?"

"The Operation Director wouldn't go into specifics. All I know is that it has enough energy to wipe out the entire human race if ever weaponized. My organization wants to secure it so that those Die Walkure bastards don't have a chance to do such a thing."

"But how would you know that? You've never met them!"

The Jaeger's head moved slightly when she said that. He didn't know whether he should laugh at her ignorance or rub his temple in slight frustration. Even so, he continued speaking.

"They have killed a lot of people in their 'interventions.' I've fought and killed many of their operatives and watched how they killed good men and women for merely serving their countries. In my world, they are one of the most dangerous terrorist organizations to exist, and will do whatever it takes to throw the world into chaos."

"That can't be true.." She shook her head in response.

"And how would you know? You are just a civilian who has lived in a world that has never known war or terror for centuries. You have never even seen our world before or know about it's problems. Speaking of which... did you know that the one known as Kurosaki Kojiro is a member of that organization?"

Compa's widened a bit when he mentioned that name. The things this person was telling her seemed a bit too hard to believe, yet the Jaeger did not seem to be lying as he truly believed the things he was telling her.

"But he's kind..! He can be a little cold because of his past but he is still a kind man! He wouldn't have stayed with us this long if he was truly as bad as you're claiming that group to be!"

"Then it looks like you have either been misinformed or deceived. That man is indeed part of Die Walkure, and is responsible for an untold umber of deaths. Tsukamoto Shizuki is likely already aware of this, yet he has neglected to tell you for some reason. As for his reason for of being with you lot, I can only imagine that he was sent to serve as a form of protection for that kid."

She started to repeatedly shake her head, trying to deny the cold words that was coming from the Jaeger's concealed lips. She refused to believe that the person who had been traveling with them was actually someone as awful as he had been described.

"None of this can true.. I..I can't believe that.."

"Well, it doesn't matter in any case. In the end, we will get what we are after and you will all be terminated. Be grateful you've been given the chance to learn some of the truth of what has been going on."

"No...!"

Fearing what would come next, Compa instinctively shut her eyes and started shaking again. She was not only afraid of what would happen to herself, she was also afraid of what would happen to her friends.

However, the Jaeger did not take any violent actions against her, only taking note of her reaction and started to speak again.

"Hm... but before that, I would like to share a revelation I've had during my time here. My organization has deemed your world to be a hostile threat to mine, but after my personal observations, I find that claim to be nonsense. Your world is peaceful. Almost none of your people are starving, or out in the streets, and you have leaders who not only give a damn about the people they serve, but they are almost like heroes that save people from an unfavorable fate. Some would consider this place to be a sort of... utopia. And for some reason, it frustrates me."

"What's so frustrating about it? Every person in this land gives their whole being into making our world what it is.. The people's faith to the goddesses is what gives them the power to do what they can for us. Sure it means we see them less, but sacrifices are made for the sake of the rest of the world.. Duality is what keeps the world revolving."

It was the Goddesses who ran that society.

It was the people whose faith gave the Goddesses the power to run that society.

With that, a sense of balance had been achieved when it came to the structure of the society of all four lands.

Regardless of what some people may say, the people of those lands needed the goddesses if they wanted to maintain their comfortable lives, from the basic necessities of living to being protected from those who would do harm to them.

And in that sense, the goddesses needed the people too. Not only to maintain their powerful position and abilities, but to simply exist. Without their faith, the Goddesses would become weaker than an elderly person on the verge of going to their death bed.

The Jaeger saw no problem with the idea of this kind of utopia itself. Even though there were some flaws abound, it at the very least, prevented corruption within the government and any sort of rebellion from the populace.

There was just one thing.

"I am afraid you have mistaken something, woman."

The Jaeger replied, shaking his head slightly as if he was a teacher who was bewildered by a studen's wrong answer on a math question.

"You see, I used to have a neutral impression of this place and did not really care about what happens to it... but after some thinking, it became clear to me. You people have grown so complacent with the peace you have obtained, that you take it all for granted... and when something comes along that threatens your peace and your goddesses are unable to defend you, you lash out like children who had their toys taken away. A good portion of the people of my world has to suffer from illness, hunger, and worst of all, fear and terror. Children go to their schools worried if someone will come in to shoot the place up, families have been destroyed because of terrorists who think they're above the law, outside it, or beyond it, all while rich politicians waste their time on meaningless issues. You people have it easy and are ungrateful for what you've accomplished... which is why I will enjoy watching your world burn. **Only then will you truly value what you have lost**."

As a man who had lost everything he held dear because of the chaos that came with terrorists, he learned to be humble and to be grateful for peace when he would eventually obtain it. His observations of people reacting to his attacks in Gamindustri had uncovered a good number of people acting childishly and some even blaming the Goddesses for their ineptness.

And this was not the first time he had seen such behavior.

There was a time in America where the country had been at some level of peace for some decades, but as that time progressed, people not only became complacent and sensitive to the harsh realities of the world around them, but they were constantly looking for enemies to fight and blame certain issues on.

The threads of Inequality that was carefully hidden for ages had slowly started to rise onto the surface, and the rhetoric, mistrust, and propaganda had given birth to a certain conflict.

That conflict was the Second American Civil War.

It had thrown much of that country into a period of chaos that had even spread into other parts of the world, inciting more conflict. Terrorist organizations including Die Walkure had came into the forefront from the chaos of these conflicts and more fuel had been added to the fire.

The Jaeger had seen how people behaved during that time period and noticed a change in the people after the wars had ended. People had become a bit more grateful for what they had rather than obsess over what they could lose.

It was then that he realized that people will be more thankful for the peace they obtained after major conflicts that brought forth destruction. He did not hunt Terrorists with the goal of eradicating all evil and terror or to enact revenge against those who murdered his loved ones. Even with his abilities, he could not accomplish what would usually take decades if not centuries.

He knew that was impossible, but he still felt like he was making a difference somewhere. Even if he was brutal and ruthless in his methodology and actions, even if he had become a distorted monster that enjoyed killing and torture, somewhere out there, people would become grateful for the peace he had given them.

And that was why this world had frustrated him. It developed the best possible result for a better world and people still tried to undermine its value.

But even so...

"You're wrong,"

A certain girl's words started to dig into the distorted being known as the Jaeger.

"You're not speaking in the perspective of the whole world. You're only making baby assumptions of what you've only seen in the small amount of time you've been here. If we are all just like you claim I would have spit in your face by now for just how awful you are, but I haven't. As several other people wouldn't either. Yes, some people are childish, but that's a minority. We all work our hardest to make something ourselves and contribute something, yes the goddesses provide peace, but that's why we worship them. Our faith and efforts to helping the world be as big and bustling as it is, is our payment to them. So for you to come in here and disrupt it like the monsters you are.. it's pathetic.. I pity you."

"..."

"Considering you haven't even brought up the fact there was a whole Several thousand years where the goddesses were absent and we worked our hardest to keep things going while they were gone just proves how little you know about us.. If you don't know about the thousand years long war then you know nothing about us."

Something within that twisted being was shaken. It was something that was as essential to him as his very core of the basis for which he operated.

The Jaeger was not an expressive person. He did not shout when angry or give any indications that he was bothered by something.

And that still remained true in this case. He suppressed his emotions, but they were building up from underneath the iron will that had been constructed. It was building up so much, that he doubt that he was going to restrain himself any longer.

With the heat of a fire that was trying to be contained, the Jaeger spoke in a dangerously low, yet clear tone as he turned to face her for the first time in a while since they were there.

"Woman... In all my years of hunting, violence, and slaughter, It was never personal. But I'll tell you right now... what I'm about to do to you, that boy and those other too, assuming that Arfoire woman hasn't found and killed them already... I am going to enjoy it. **Very, very much.** "

"..You're horrible."

"I'm necessary." The twisted being readily replied. "I will complete this mission, and then return to doing what I do best: eradicating the wretched plague that is crime and terror."

"You aren't going to get away with this.."

"And who will stop me? My organization will raze this place to the ground. Your goddesses will fall, and you and your friends will be terminated after I've killed my target and obtain what we are after."

Even so, Compa shook her head once more.

"You won't.."

"You seem confident. What makes you so sure?"

"Because my grandpa always said, 'Never let your guard down, even when victorious.'.."

Before he could come up with a response to that comment, a loud noise rang out. The doors to the building they were in suddenly opened, prompting the Jaeger to turn in that direction.

Because of the light, he could not see who it was at first, but when he saw who suddenly emerged through those doors more clearly, a grin formed underneath his mask.

"Well, well... the main star finally appears."

Compa remained silent at that point, turning her head to the door to see who entered, though the man's response was enough of a clue.

And then a familiar voice spoke out in a low tone.

"Get the hell away from her... you fucking monster."

 _ **Episode 10**_

 _ **Cornered Prey / Falling Utopia**_

* * *

Afterword

We've reached the tenth episode! Welcome to those who have just found this story, and to those who have been reading from the start, welcome back.

This particular event and the subsequent events following has been coming for a long time since the prototype version. This is one of the scenes and episodes that was originally going to be put in there, but I managed to leave most of it intact for this version of the story. Believe it or not, this is one of the few parts of the series that I was actually looking forward to bringing forth on text, so I hope you enjoyed this one, since the previous two was a bit lacking in terms of advancement.

Anyway, the confrontation with the Jaeger and Arfoire is coming in the next episode as the first cour nears its conclusion. It will be more action packed than this one so expect some pretty interesting battles.

A big thanks to SayomiLena for helping me with some dialogue again for this one, as well as the people who are sticking with this story. I know some people had gotten frustrated with the previous two entries, even I admit that wasn't my best, so I hope you found this one to be more enjoyable and that you continue to stick with me some more.

It is time to close the pages for now while praying that the pages of the next entry will be opened.

And I lay my pen down for now.

Hunter vs Hunted. Who do you think will win?

-Kino-san


End file.
